The Twin Flowers
by Nimash
Summary: Ouran, meet your new students! The sarcastic, pretty, smart, and haters of the Host Club, Rose and Lilly. These girls are a completely new kind to the Host Club, but are these girls falling for the Hitachiin Twins, and vice versa? Enjoy their wacky times!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

And So They Met the Host Club

"I really don't like this place," a girl in a purple spaghetti strap shirt with a gray cover up, skinny jeans, and gray flats muttered. She had beautiful strawberry blonde hair and hazel eyes. She was stomping down on a tiled floor, her hands balled up into fists. Her almost twin sister caught up with her. She also had the same hair, eyes, and face, but she had light freckles over her nose and cheeks. She was wearing a sky-blue lace top with a white knee-length skirt and blue flats. They both had their hair up in ponytails, with their bangs out.

"You don't have to, Rose," the girl in the blue shirt told her. "We just have to fix some sort of platform motor in place of dad's workers and we can leave." She looked around as they continued to walk. "Besides, what's so bad about this place?"

Rose stopped in front of a door with a sign above it that said "Music Room #3". She turned to face her sister, Lily. "What's so bad about it is that it's a snooty rich kid school with snooty rich kid students whose parents own stupid snooty rich companies!" She stared at her sister in silence.

Lily turned to the door. "In case you've forgotten," she explained coolly, "Our father runs a multi-million dollar mechanic company, and our mother is a fashion designer."

Rose bit her lip. "Uh, well," she struggled.

"Well what?"

"It's different."

"How?"

"Um, because we don't flaunt it? Oh I don't know, it just is!"

Lilly sighed. "It's the same every time Rose. You complain for no reason." Before her sister could yell a comeback, Lilly opened the door, and a gust of wind blew rose petals in from them. Rose rolled her eyes.

"Welcome," they heard. They watched in shock as they saw a group of seven boys welcome them. They were all dressed in Ouran Academy uniforms, which was the school they were at. As Rose went to check that they were at the right room, a boy with blonde hair and purple eyes stood up and walked towards Lilly.

"Hello there, young lady," he soothed. "You look more ravishing than I could have ever dreamed. But you must be the girl of my dreams. There's no other explanation of our meeting. I have dreamed of finding you, of finally meeting you," he exclaimed as he held Lilly close. "I have even-"

Lilly pulled back her hand and slapped him across the face. "Ow!" he yelled. The other boys stared in shock. Two boys started laughing, but Lilly didn't look up.

"Stalker!" she accused the boy as she ran back. "What kind of person just randomly tries to 'bust a move' on someone they don't even know!" When Rose heard yelling, she ran back into the room. She asked Lilly what had happened. "This FREAK," Lilly explained, "Tried to flirt with me!" Rose automatically slapped the boy. The others just stared.

"F-f-freak?" the boy muttered. Then he ran into the corner and just sat there in fetal position. The twin girls rolled their eyes.

The boys who were laughing stopped. They stared. "Hikarou," one of them nudged the other, "Those girls are like us."

Rose's temper surged. "Look MISTER," she growled, "This is obviously one of those pathetic 'host clubs' that I've heard about, where girls sometimes pay for boys to flirt with them even though they couldn't care less about what happens to them, and we aren't, nor will we ever be-" but as she and her sister turned around to face the boys who laughed when they slapped the blonde boy, they stopped in their tracks and gaped. The sisters practically went weak-kneed when they saw two twin boys with orange hair and beautiful golden eyes. The twin boys, who they figured were Hikarou and Karou from what they heard before, secretly thought they were amazing-looking too.

They were all in silence until they heard a female voice yell, "You're here!" Rose and Lilly jumped out of their skins as they heard a powerful motor running, and a platform rising up with a girl on it. Then it stopped, started, the machine chugging, but eventually stopped so that only the girl's upper body was level with the floor.

"How many weirdoes are there?"

"Isn't this supposed to be a music room?"

The girl ignored their questions as she climbed up onto the floor. "I'm Renge, I called Gengara Mechanics for some assistance." She stopped in front of the girls and looked around. "So," she asked, "Where are the workers?"

Rose and Lilly stared. "You're looking at them," Lilly told her, both of them pulling out a bag labeled, "Tools". Renge stared.

"But, but," she stuttered.

"Where girls?" The twins looked at each other. Rose shrugged. "We figured this would happen. Because apparently, even when you're the daughters of a powerful owner of the most famous mechanical company in Japan, you can't be a mechanic." Lilly walked over to the platform, and yelled for Rose to come over.

"What do you think it is?" Lilly asked her. Rose shrugged.

"I don't know, probably gears grinding against each other."

"I don't think so. If it was, we would have heard that grinding sound while it was rising, and it wouldn't have just stopped."

"So what's your guess?"

Lilly jumped onto the platform, still lower than the floor, and bounced on it a little. She crawled back up. "The pulley has either been damaged or completely pushed out of place. And it sounds like the springs have almost been undone."

While the two sisters went downstairs to check out the motor, Renge just sat in one of the chairs and whistled a bit. The blonde boy, whose name was Tamaki, had recovered from the insult and had stood up to come to the others. "I don't like them," he pouted.

Renge just looked around. "I think they're nice," she replied cluelessly. "But I was surprised to find out they're sisters."

A black-haired boy with glasses whose name was Kyoya informed her, "You realize that they were twins, right?"

Hikarou and Karou added, "ALMOST twins, one of them had freckles."

Renge looked shocked. "They're twins?!" The boys sighed.

After about an hour, a brown haired and brown eyed boy whose name was Haruhi suggested, "Maybe somebody should go down there to check on them."

Hunny, a boy with golden hair and brown eyes who looked like he was five told his cousin Mori, who had black hair and blue eyes, "Yeah, the basement is scary. There are lots of bugs and spiders and it's so dark!" He looked up at Mori. "Can we not go to the basement?"

"Yeah."

"We'll go," Karou volunteered. Hikarou just shrugged. They walked down the hall to the stairs labeled 'Basement'.

"I can't believe we met other twins," Hikarou told his brother as he walked down the stairs.

"I can't believe they were so beautiful." They remained quiet for the rest of the way down, until they saw a light where the girls must've been. Karou put a finger to his lips. "Let's scare them a bit."

Hikarou smiled. "I was just about to say that." They tiptoed until they reached the bottom of the stairs. "One, two," Hikarou whispered. The twin boys jumped out on three, screaming.

But they soon realized that the girls weren't scared. "Oh, hey," Lilly replied, looking up from where Rose was working. "No, that gear needs to be tightened," she pointed to a small gear, and Rose just went to work.

"Done," she replied in a minute. "Well, looks like we'll be leaving," she told the twins, packing up her tools. Lilly was drawing something.

The twin boys blocked their exit. "Not so fast," they replied.

"What now?"

"We'll let you leave, if you play the which one is Hikarou game. But we must warn you, there has only been one person who has ever won at-"

Lilly sighed. She pointed to the one on the right. "Karou."

Rose pointed to the one on the left. "Hikarou."

The twin boys stared, dumbfounded. "That's right," Karou muttered.

"But, um, we need your reasoning," Hikarou told them.

"Your voices are slightly different," Rose told them, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Lilly walked up to the twins. "We would have come up with something more intelligent, but we haven't known you for very long." Her sister Rose joined her. "Now if you'll excuse us," Lilly told them, "We'll be on our way."

The boys let them through, but they stood there for a few minutes. "There's something different with those girls," Karou pointed out. "And I don't know if I like it or not."

When the boys walked back to Music Room #3, they saw Renge handing over some bills to the girls. Then she ran to try out her platform and found that it worked like a charm. She exclaimed, "Thank you! Thank you!" Then she seemed to remember something. "Oh, I had this most brilliant idea! What if the twins go out with the twins?"

The twin boys and the twin girls stared at each other. Rose coughed. "Well, um, we really should be going," she told them as she walked away.

"I guess we won't see you again," Lilly said as she waved and ran to catch up with her sister.

"Well that was interesting," Haruhi observed.

Kyoya had written down something on his clipboard. "Quite. But I hope we've left a good impression on them, seeing as how they're going to be enrolled at our school."

"WHAT?!" they all yelled.

"But they just said," Hikarou started.

"That we would never see them again," Karou finished.

Kyoya pushed his glasses up. "I'm aware that their father hasn't told them yet, but it was announced at a meeting of some sort, along with a second option for the girls' uniforms."

Haruhi stared at the door the girls had just walked out of. "Maybe we won't ever see them again."

Tamaki asked her, "Why?"

"Well, seeing as how they hated the Host Club, I'm guessing they wouldn't come back to it."

Hunny walked over to Kyoya, who was sitting down at a table, doing some math. "Kyoya, what class will they be in?"

"If my memory serves me right," Kyoya told him, not looking up from his work, "They would be in Hikarou, Karou, and Haruhi's class,"

"Huh?" the trio replied.

The rest of the day went on as normal for them. And Rose and Lilly were walking to their family car. Their driver was inside, reading a book. "Time to go home, Charles," Rose told him once her and her sister were seated. He nodded, pulling out of the parking lot.

"So, what did you think of the school?" Charles asked.

"Meh," Lilly replied for both of them. They would soon learn at dinner that they were about to go to it.

* * *

**Yeah, I finally got this up! C: I've written at least five more chapters, which I will be posting later. Please review! No flames.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own OHSHC. But Rose and Lilly (and Charles!) belong to me.  
**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Welcome to Ouran

"Miss Rose, Miss Lilly," a maid walked into their room. "Dinner is ready."

Lilly looked up from her book. "Thanks Maddie." The maid smiled and walked back downstairs. Rose was busy fooling around with her I-pod. "Come on Rose, dinner," Lilly told her sister as she got up from her single bed.

Rose put her hand to her ear. "What?"

"Dinner."

"WHAT?"

Lilly pulled out Rose's ear buds. "DINNER!"

Rose rubbed her ears. "Jeez, no need to yell."

The twins walked down to the dinning room, a good-sized room with an elegant wooden table and chairs. "Hello there my flowers," their father welcomed as they sat down across from each other. He was reading the newspaper while eating his steak and potatoes.

Their maid, Maddie, set down the twin's dinner. Rose was having fish and Lilly had chicken. "What would you all like to drink?" Maddie asked.

"Coke," the twins said at the same time.

Their father smiled. "I'll have some tomato juice." The twins' father didn't drink alcohol. It wasn't because he was against it; it was just because he didn't care for the taste.

Maddie made a slight bow and walked off towards the kitchen. "Your mother called. She said to tell you both that she loves and misses you, and that Paris is beautiful. She'll be home in three days once she finishes working with Mrs. Hitachiin on their new fall line," their father told them.

"Hitachiin, Hitachiin… why does that sound familiar…" Lilly muttered.

Maddie brought their drinks. They all said thank you. Dinner was relatively quiet, as it usually was.

Rose sighed. "Well, I'm done."

"Me too." Lilly was about to get up to go back to their room, when their dad told them to sit. "Something wrong?" Lilly asked him, worried.

Their father cleared his throat. "Well, your mother and I have been talking," he told them, "And we both agree that you need to stop being home-schooled and go to a private school." The girls stared at him. "Which is why I asked you to do the repairs at Ouran Academy High School, seeing as how you will be starting tomorrow. We have everything ready, and this year, your mother has convinced the school board to allow the girls to have a second option for their uniform that she designed."

Rose gaped. "But we can't go!"

Their father looked at her. "Give me one good reason, Rose," he replied.

"Uh, um…"

Lilly saved her, "There's this Host Club, which we feel is completely inappropriate for a school, and feel that-"

Her father interrupted her, "I'm perfectly aware of this club. As long as you stay away from it, which I'm sure you will, seeing as how you are smart enough to, I see no problems with it." He sighed. "It's a bit of a shame that Mrs. Hitachiin's sons are in it, though."

Rose and Lilly stared at each other. The twin boys' mother worked with theirs. Seeing as how there was no point in arguing, they got up to their rooms to get ready for bed.

When they opened the door, there was Maddie, setting up their folders and putting two uniforms on each of their beds. One was a yellow dress with a red bow, and the other was a classic sailor girl uniform with blue flats and a yellow bow. Maddie half smiled. "I have everything ready, you just need to pack your bags."

They thanked her, knowing she was just doing orders, and sat down on their beds. "Well, I know I'm not wearing this dress," Rose chuckled, tossing it into the back of her closet. Lilly did the same.

"I can't believe we're actually going," Lilly said as she packed a brown messenger bag. Everyone at the school was required to have it.

The two sisters packed up and got ready to go to bed. They set their alarms for 6:00 am.

Rose tossed and turned in her bed. "Can't go to sleep?" Lilly asked.

"Yeah. I hoped we would never go back there again."

"I kind of wanted to go back. It would have been nice to see those cute twins."

Rose frowned. "They seemed obnoxious and smart-mouthed."

"Then they're perfect for you!"

Rose threw a pillow at her. "You shouldn't be talking Little Miss Know-It-All." They laughed.

Lilly sighed. "Well, we better get to sleep."

"Before we do, let's promise that we'll never go to Music Room #3 unless our lives depended on it."

"Deal."

And with that, the two sisters quickly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

In the morning, their alarm clock went off. "Ugh, it's reality," Rose grumbled as she shut if off. Lilly sat up in bed.

She looked at Rose. "We might as well get ready." The rest of the morning was spent having breakfast and getting ready to go to school. The ride to school was fairly silent, with Charles asking a question here and there. Lilly and Rose may never admit it, but they were secretly excited when they stepped onto the school grounds. As they headed to homeroom, they saw that a few girls were wearing the new uniforms like they were. They also noticed that everyone looked at them when they walked by and whispered, "They're twins, like the Hitachiin brothers."

In homeroom, they took their seats in the back. They were one of the first ones there. As the bell rang, seats filled up quickly. The last ones to walk in were Hikarou, Karou, and Haruhi. Lilly and Rose went wide-eyed. "They're in our class?" Rose hissed. All Lilly could do was nod. The trio noticed them too, and awkwardly stared as they took their seats a row or two ahead of them.

Everyone began to mumble. "We have two pairs of twins in our class." "This is so weird." "Who are those girls?" "It looks like the twins have met before."

Their homeroom teacher stood up from his desk. "Quiet down now," he told them. "As you can see, we have two new students. Miss Rose, and Miss Lilly." He looked around. "Could the two of you please stand up?"

Rose and Lilly stood up, and everyone looked at them. "Please help them around as this is their first day." Rose and Lilly sat down again. Lilly started drawing, ignoring the announcements, but Rose was listening attentively. When class was dismissed, everyone ran out the door. The twins studied their schedules and quickly found out where to go.

It seemed like everywhere they went the trio followed them. They were in all their classes, and it was almost creepy. In every class it was the same. Take notes, listen, and have everyone stare at them. At the end of the day, Rose and Lilly were heading to the school's parking lot, when they heard voices. They saw the Hitachiin brothers and the Haruhi boy. They could hear their conversation.

"Well, time to report to duty," Karou mumbled as they walked towards the door. Apparently they hadn't noticed the sisters yet.

Hikarou was eating a banana. "I wonder what cosplay we'll do today."

Haruhi shrugged. "I know it's going to be ridiculous," he told them, "So don't get your hopes up."

Hikarou shrugged. "You never really know."

"Exactly where did your banana peel go?" Haruhi asked as he noticed Hikarou's empty hand. The twins shrugged.

"We can never really tell," Karou told her, "We just manage to drop them somewhere.

"WOAH!" Rose yelled. The trio turned to see that she had slipped on a banana peel. She was sitting on her bum with her books scattered in shock. Lilly was helping her up. The twins burst out laughing.

"That was priceless!" Hikarou yelled in between laughs.

Karou was having trouble standing up. "That never gets old!"

Haruhi rolled her eyes. "You guys are so immature," she tsked as she walked over to Rose. "Hey, I'm sorry about that. Are you okay?"

Rose growled through her teeth, "Fine, no thanks to your friends." She gathered her books and turned to face the twins. "You brats are so immature I swear that people will mistake you for nine-year olds when you're thirty!"

"Oh no, whatever will we do?" Karou worried, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"You seriously think we care?" Hikarou cast her a dirty look. Rose ignored him.

Haruhi looked around. "Hey, um," he asked, still looking around, "Where's your sister?" Rose looked around.

"Huh," she wondered. She saw the door open. "Oh god, please don't tell me…" Sure enough, when they walked into the room, there was Lilly, talking to Kyoya.

Her sister caught up with her. "We'd like to request," Lilly smiled evilly as she pointed to the twins, "Hikarou and Karou." Rose gave her a questioning look. Then Lilly smirked at everyone's astonishment.

"Oooh, you have a plan," Rose whispered, "I like it when you have a plan."

The Hitachiin brothers grimaced. "What are they up to?" Hikarou asked. Karou just shrugged. They followed them to a table.

"You might want to be careful when you sit down," Lilly warned them. The twins ignored her and just sat down normally. Five seconds later, the chairs gave way and they ended up landing on the floor with a thud. "Someone must not have done a very good job of tightening those screws," Lilly commented. "That reminds me," Lilly said as she pulled out a small screwdriver out of her bag, "Rose, didn't you say you needed to borrow my screwdriver earlier?"

The girls laughed. Hikarou growled, "Har har. You got us. Now could you leave before the flowers die?" He smirked.

Rose started to fake cry. "Well that wasn't very nice," she whimpered, batting her eyes. Hikarou started getting weak kneed. "Aren't you supposed to make us smile?" she asked him in a cutesy way.

Karou supported his brother. "Look, can we just forget about what happened earlier?" he asked them, focusing on Lilly.

"Alright," Lilly replied, locking eyes with Karou, "We'll leave." The sisters stood up. As they turned around, Lilly added, "But we're just getting warmed up."

Once they left, Haruhi mumbled, "I guess twins don't get along."

* * *

**Wow, 3 reviews in one day! awesome! i'll be uploading more Saturday, fingers crossed! i've been working on this story for a long time, and i think it turned out nice.**

**Remember, reviews! and if it doesn't trouble you, check out my other 2 fanfics, Of Fangs and Fur, and When In Athens... but if you're not interested, you're not interested. just remember to keep reading this one. ;)  
**

**Disclaimer: I don't own OHSHC.  
**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Picking Partners

The next day in science class, they had to do a project with a partner. "Okay, so you do the research and I do the writing?" Rose asked.

Lilly thought about it. "Only if you present it, too." They were ready to go, when their teacher crushed their plans.

"This year," he told them, "I have already picked your partners based on who I think may be most like you." Well, he hadn't totally crushed their plans, seeing as how the girls figured they were most like each other. However, a teacher is usually horribly inaccurate when picking partners. He read out from a list. "Haruhi and Miko," the rest was a blur until he got to "Hikarou and Rose."

"WHAT?!" the two yelled. "I am nothing like her!" "I'm nothing like him!" The class stared blankly. The new partners looked at each other.

"Well that didn't help," Rose muttered as she angrily stared at her desk. "I'm paired with a hot-shot." Rose sneaked a peek at Hikarou. He didn't look thrilled, either. "Five bucks says you get paired with the other devil."

Lilly groaned. "Just watch it happen."

Sure enough, the teacher read out, "Karou and Lilly."

The class stared blankly. The girl and boy twins shot their partners a death glare. One fan girl cooed at the fact that the twins were partners, but Rose's sharp look at her made her stop.

"Now that you know your partners," the teacher broke the silence, "Go ahead and get to work. You have twenty minutes to come up with a topic and get it approved by me."

Haruhi rose up from her seat between the Hitachiin twins. Hikarou asked, "Where are you going? You can't just leave us with the freaks!"

Haruhi rolled her eyes. "I have to go work with MY partner," she explained. She looked up, and added, "And I believe your partners just heard the part where you called them freaks."

Hikarou and Karou turned to find Rose and Lilly staring at them menacingly. "Thanks for the compliment," they hissed in unison.

"Yeah, compared to what you really are, it was a compliment," the Hitachiin twins hissed back.

Rose leaned on Hikarou's side of the desk, while Lilly did the same on Karou's. Rose sighed. "Okay, whether we like it or not, we're stuck working together," she told them. She focused her glare on Hikarou as she mumbled, "So let's get to work, partner."

Hikarou smirked. "How about we do our project on what rots?"  
"Let me think about that… No."

"Why? Too gross for you?"

"No, but I'm pretty sure my parents wouldn't be too happy about keeping mold in our house. Unless you want to do it at your house."  
Hikarou thought about his neat-freak maids. "Well," he grinned, "I don't know if my maids would enjoy that…"  
Rose smirked. "Then that's our topic. But you have to take pictures of the look on your maids' faces when they see it."

Hikarou laughed, but stopped abruptly. He wasn't giving in that easily. Not to this funny, pretty, prankster…

Rose raised an eyebrow. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"I WASN'T STARING!" Hikarou asserted a little to quickly, blushing madly. "I'll go tell Mr. Nakato our topic," he mumbled, eager to get away.

Lilly sat on Kaoru's desk. "Okay, what are we going to do?"

Karou mumbled, "No ideas here."

Lilly rolled her eyes. She looked at Karou sternly. "Listen, Karou. You don't like me, and I don't like you."

"No," Karou replied sarcastically, "We get along great."

Lilly didn't budge. Karou gulped a little bit. Usually the sarcasm made girls giggle crazily. It was obvious Lilly meant business. Or maybe she wasn't like the other girls. Or both.

Lilly continued, "But I'm not interested in failing this project, and I know you aren't either, so can you at least pretend to try?"

Karou crossed his arms. "That you think I don't try offends me."

"Hey, the truth hurts."

Karou opened his mouth for a comeback, but couldn't think of one. He had met his match. "Alright, fine," he mumbled, trying to not show defeat, "What about mutations in chickens?"

Lilly shrugged. "Sounds decent," she replied. She added, "Why chickens, though?"

"'Cause you couldn't handle anything else."

Lilly shot him another glare. "Oh really?"

"Yes, really."

"I bet I could."

"Prove it."

"We do garden snakes. And we keep it at my house."

Karou smirked. "Are you sure you can handle it?"

Lilly jumped off his desk and walked to Mr. Nakato. Karou's eyes widened. "She's really doing it," he thought. He half-smiled. Lilly was beginning to look like his type of girl. Not that he would admit that.

* * *

**Sorry, this is more of a short filler, but I'll be uploading the next chapter soon, anyways. Please review!  
**

**Disclaimer: I don't own OHSHC.  
**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

In Just One Weekend

The weekend had finally rolled around, and the Gengara Twins and the Hitachiin Twins had planned to go over to the sisters' house to work on the research for their projects. The only problem was that the girls' mother's flight had been cancelled, so she had just arrived Saturday morning. Lilly had called the Hitachiin's home number they had given her, but they were too stubborn to change the date. Hikarou's exact words were, "We really don't care. We'll be over at 11." The Hitachiin Twins were truly gentlemen.

After the girls had greeted their mother with choking hugs and received souvenirs, they immediately set to work unpacking boxes of their mother's and her partner's fashions. The girls had expected that since they got to work at 9:30, they could finish up at 10:30 and freshen up before the Hitachiin Twins came over. However, their mother had given them some startling news. "I just couldn't bare giving Yuzuha anymore grief by having her store 50 boxes of clothing with her boys, so I took it upon myself to store her fashions, too."

"Leave it to Mom to be kind, caring, and thoughtful of others," mumbled Rose, carrying a large brown box filled with spring accessories. She was wearing a white tank top with a blue crop jacket, fairly slim gray sweats, and light blue flats.

Lilly grunted as she lifted a box bigger than her filled with prototypes for prom dresses. She told her sister, "It could be worse. Mom could've gone into the brick business." Like her sister, she wore a white tank top and slim gray sweats, but she had on an orange crop jacket and pallid orange flats.

At precisely 11:00, a black stretch limo pulled up to the quaint mansion. Hikarou and Karou stepped out, wearing similar but not identical clothing. They looked around, and once they spotted the sisters, they eyed them strangely.

Rose was the first to spot them. She checked her cell phone. She groaned, "Crap." She looked over at Lilly, who was just about to grab another box. "It's already 11," Rose yelled to her sister, jerking her head towards the impatient boys.

Lilly looked over to her mother. Mrs. Gengara was already running towards the twins. "Oh, you must be Yuzuha's sons!" she exclaimed. She eyed them. "But what are you doing here?"

Hikarou gave her his most charming smile. Secretly, Rose melted a little on the inside. "We're here to work on our science project with Rose and Lilly."

Karou added, " But it looks as though they're busy."

"Not at all!" the sisters' mother yelled. She flashed a smile to her daughters. "You girls can go and work on your projects with Yuzuha's sons, but put something nicer on, first. And show them the snacks." Their mother wanted to make sure they treated the sons of her partner in fashion well.

"Okay," Lilly mumbled as she trotted into the house.

"Follow us," Rose added, following her sister. The boys followed, examining the quaint mansion.

Once they entered the kitchen with snacks on the island and stools around for them to sit on, the Hitachiin Twins asked in unison, "Where are all of your butlers and maids?"

The girls replied in unison, "We have one maid and a driver, but Father likes to give them the weekend off." Hikarou and Karou had never heard of such a thing before. But before they could push it further, the Gengara Twins had disappeared into their room.

After a few minutes of silent snacking, Karou looked up to see Lilly dressed. Her hair was wavy and kept back with an orange hair band. She wore an orange lace tank top, skinny jeans, and the same orange flats. Karou swallowed hard to keep himself from choking. Outside of school, Kaoru had to admit that Lilly looked hot.

Hikarou did and thought the same when Rose joined her twin, looking exactly the same, minus the freckles, and with a blue lace tank top, a blue hair band, and blue flats.

"Let's get this over with," mumbled Lilly, leading the boys out of the kitchen and into a study. It had wooden floors and mocha walls, complete with a view of a garden, one large desk, three leather desk chairs, and three computers. Rose and Hikarou were on the right and Lilly and Karou were on the left. The middle computer was a silent barrier, allowing the partners to work without disturbing each other.

After working peacefully and somehow managing not to argue for an hour, the grandfather clock chimed that it was noon. Hikarou looked over at his brother anxiously. "We better get going. Tono would blow a gasket if we were late." Karou nodded, looking away from the computer screen.

Rose and Lilly asked at the same time, "Late for what?"

Karou rolled his eyes and huffed, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "A meeting about the Host Club's Halloween Party."

Rose raised an eyebrow. "Halloween Party?"

"It's more like a costumed dance," Hikarou explained. "And the Host Club wants to do some special cosplay, too."

Lilly casually threw in, "Are all the female students invited?"

Karou smirked. "Yeah. Do you happen to know any?"

Lilly raised an eyebrow. "That would be willing to dance with you? Not that I could imagine."

"Karou," his twin warned, "We're running late."

"Fine," Karou pouted.

As the twins began to leave, Rose stopped them. "Wait! We should probably give you our numbers so you can call about the project."

The boys stopped in the doorway. They looked at each other and shrugged. "Okay."

Hikarou held out his hand as Rose wrote down her cell phone number, and Karou did the same with Lilly. Once they were done, Hikarou smirked, "You know, technically you just gave us your numbers."

Karou played along. "Yeah, we scored some digits!" They high-fived each other, pretending to be egotistical boys. Lilly and Rose responded by smacking them somewhat hard upside the head.

Before the Hitachiin Twins could scream assault, the Gengara Twins were pushing them out the door, bidding a hasty goodbye. The sisters quickly saved their work and headed back to their room. Lilly immediately pulled out her laptop and opened up Facebook.

"Watcha doing?" Rose asked, plopping down beside her on her vanilla colored bed. She peered closely at the screen. Her eyes widened as she realized what she was doing. "Why are you sending friend requests to the entire Host Club?"

Lilly flashed her a devilish smile as she hit the send button. "A wise human once said, keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."

Rose grinned. "And people call ME the evil one."

Sunday morning, the Hitachiin Twins were woken up by one of their maids bringing them breakfast. As Hikarou and Karou slowly woke up and got ready, Karou checked his phone. He had one new text. Surprisingly, it was from Haruhi. 'so how did your research go?'

Karou looked over at his brother on the laptop. "Hey, I just got a text from Haruhi."

"Really? Why?" Hikarou asked, intrigued and slightly envious. Why hadn't Haruhi texted him?

Karou could sense the tension in Hikarou's voice. He reassured, "She just wanted to know how yesterday with Lilly and Rose went."

"Oh." Now Hikarou was bored, and he went back to the laptop. Karou sent back, 'it was okay.'

'so what do u think of them?'

'same as bfore.'

Karou thought for a moment. His mind flashed back to when he was in the kitchen, and he had just seen Lilly actually looking pretty smokin' in his favorite color. He hesitated, but he decided to send, 'but I think Lilly's pretty hot.' What would Haruhi care, anyway?

'excuse me?!'

Well that was unexpected. Then Karou looked at the sender. Crap, it was Lilly. Which could only mean that the last text he sent was accidentally sent to her instead of Haruhi. As if to confirm, Lilly sent, 'Karou, this is u, right?'

The younger twin started panicking. What was he supposed to do? Hikarou noticed his brother acting jumpy, and asked, "Something wrong?"

Karou bit his lower lip. "Just look at the messages," was all he could say. As Hikarou took the phone from Karou and read, his eyes widened.

He shook his head. "Don't worry, I know what to do." Karou sighed. Maybe Hikarou could help the situation, at least a little bit.

After Hikarou had sent a text, he handed the phone back to Karou, proud of his handiwork. Karou looked at the Sent folder and grimaced as he read Hikarou's message to Lilly: 'Para no hablar Japanese. "Hikarou," he moaned, waiting for Lilly's response.

"Hey, it was the best I could do. And you didn't have any ideas," he argued.

Karou read the new text, with Hikarou reading behind his shoulder. 'is that Hikarou?'

'dang, how'd u guess?'

'Rose tries that all the time. this is Kaoru now, right?'

'yeah. so what's ur point?'

At this time, Hikarou was once again bored and returned to his computer game. Lilly sent, 'whether they like it or not, they're a lot alike.'

'doesn't that mean we're a lot alike?' Karou smirked.

'i can practically imagine u smriking right now. yeah, i guess.'

'i can see u sitting on ur bed txting right now.'

'wrong. wanna try again?'

'kitchen, eating breakfast?'

'yup.'

'whatcha having?'

'my fave: scrambled eggs and bacon.'

'really? that's what im having.'

While this kind of conversation was going on, Hikarou checked his Facebook. Weird, he had two new friend requests. As he opened them up, they were from both the Gengara Sisters. He blinked. Once. Twice. Five times. He looked at his messages to find that the rest of the Host Club had gotten the requests also. Hikarou hesitated, but decided to accept. "Hey Karou?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the screen. Karou mumbled, busy replying to a joke Lilly just made. Hikarou took it as a sign to go on. "Did you get a friend request from the Gengara Twins?"

Karou's head popped up. "Let me check." He dropped the phone on the bed and quickly walked over to the laptop. He signed in, and automatically saw the friend requests. As he opened them up, he raised his eyebrows. "What should I do?" he asked, looking to Hikarou.

Hikarou shrugged. "They're probably planning something. I say we accept it and pull it out from under them at the last minute. The rest of the Host Club got their request, too."

Karou bit his lip, and his eyes darted to the cell phone, beeping with a new message from Lilly. He was starting to click with her, even if it was via text message. He wasn't sure anymore if he wanted to make her a toy. His finger hesitated on the mouse, but he clicked the accept button.

Hikarou looked at him as he walked back to the bed. "So what are you texting Lilly about?"

"Just stuff."

"C'mon Karou, that's not an actual answer."

"Well, we kind of jump from topic to topic."

"So in other words, it's like you're having a real conversation, and you're clicking with her?"

Karou looked at his twin, pleading with his eyes. "Yeah. And I have a sense she has that feeling, too."

Hikarou sighed. He smiled at his brother. "Fine, then we won't make them our toys. But we can at least mess around with them for a bit." His brother's happiness was too important to him to lose.

Karou beamed. "Definitely."

* * *

**Disclaimer: I don't own OHSHC.**

**Okay, so it looks like Lilly and Karou are developing feelings... or ARE they? DUHN DUHN DUHN DUUUUUUUHN! (nah, I'm just messing with you, they are)**

**I also appreciate your ideas for the future chapters, although I still have a few more prewritten ones, so your idea may not be used right away. Remember, review!  
**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Costumes and Allies

Monday morning, the Gengara Sisters walked into homeroom, noticing the Halloween decorations. Rose shook her head as she sat down. "So little effort was put into them."

Lilly rolled her eyes. "You shouldn't be talking Ms. Don't -Take-Part-In-Any-School-Events."

Rose playfully elbowed her, smiling. She took out the paper where Lilly had drawn out their costume ideas. "I made some minor changes so they can fit with the plan."

As Lilly took the paper from Rose, she nodded her head in approval. "We'll go consult with the accomplice after school." Just as Lilly looked up from where she tucked the drawing in her school bag, who should walk in but the Host Club Trio. Lilly locked eyes with Karou, and both of them blushed as they looked away. Their siblings noticed.

"Is this going to interfere with our tradition?" Rose asked. Lilly shook her head no. After all, it wasn't aimed specifically at Karou...

The rest of the day was a blur, with all of the classes talking about the Host Club's Halloween Party. Rose and Lilly just smiled in anticipation when it was mentioned.

After school, the Hitachiin Twins waited in anticipation for Nekezowa to enter his beloved Black Magic Club. Haruhi raised an eyebrow. "What did you two do?"

The twins smiled devilishly. "Well, we decided to borrow some small stage lights from the Drama Department for Nekezowa," they mumbled in unison.

Just a few moments later, the club heard a blood-curdling scream as Nekezowa ran out, yelling Bloody Murder. "I will curse you, you twins of the devil!" he yelled, running into the shadows somewhere, "And the rest of the Host Club, too!"

Tamaki froze. He yelled at Hikarou and Karou, "Do you know what you two did?"

"Of course we do," Hikarou assured.

"We pulled a prank on Nekezowa," Karou added.

Tamaki dramatically squealed, "No, you've unleashed his wrath. We are all doomed!"

The twins rolled their eyes. "Whatever you say, Milord."

As the Host Club debated whether or not they really were doomed, Nekezowa found some surprising guests in his sanctuary of darkness. He could just make out their features in the dim light of the few candles. "Nekezowa, what would you do if we told you there was a way to get revenge on the Host Club, and all you had to do was fake a curse and supply us with a few items?"

Meanwhile, Tamaki was announcing that their costumes had been delivered for the party. "I had learned to post on Facebook recently," he told them, "And I'm sure you all saw my post for our theme!"

Hunny looked up at the blond. "I'm sorry Tamaki, but I was busy and didn't check Facebook. What's our theme?"

"No need to worry!" Tamaki dramatically reassured his small but still older friend, "Our theme this year is..." Tamaki opened up a huge delivery box, and pulled out a lion costume, "Animals that are the closest to our type that are able to be made into attractive costumes!"

Hunny's eyes widened. "That's a really long theme."

Tamaki continued, ignoring an eye roll from Haruhi, "As fitting, I will be a lion, the king of the jungle! Or in this case, prince!"

"What about Mori and me, Tamaki?"

"An excellent question, Hunny. You'll be a cute, white bunny! And Mori will be dressed as a dingo, to fit his wild type!"

"What about us, Tono?" the twins asked in unison.

"For the devils, you'll be Tasmanian Devils! Kyoya will be a handsome raccoon, the animal of the shadows, and Haruhi, I got you a cute lioness costume so we'll be matching!" Tamaki cooed.

Haruhi raised an eyebrow, and looked over to Kyoya. "Tamaki, that would reveal Haruhi's gender. Luckily, I found a safe, BOY'S mouse costume, and I had it delivered to the dressing rooms. We should all go and make sure our costumes fit."

As the rest of the Host Club headed towards the dressing rooms, Tamaki pouted. "I'm sure my daughter would like matching her father more than a stupid mouse costume."

* * *

**Disclaimer: I don't own OHSHC. *sigh***

**Sorry this chapter is so short, but there's a bigger and better one just around the corner! I promise!**

**Thanks to all who have reviewed. You all receive a virtual waffle! Hurray! If you haven't reviewed yet, please do. It only takes a second!  
**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Halloween Hauntings and Secrets

As the days passed, it was soon the day of the Host Club's Halloween Party. The entire club was in their costumes. The Hitachiin Twins were on red alert as they watched for the Gengara Sisters to enter. Hikarou and Karou were dressed in long sleeved black shirts with a white zigzag stripe going across their chest and upper back. They also had black jeans, black boots, black fingerless gloves, and a white belt. Tamaki had managed to convince them to wear black ears. "Maybe they aren't coming," Karou told his brother, slightly disappointed. The party had just started, but already girls in princess and fairy costumes were pouring in.

Finally, Hikarou and Karou spotted the redhead sisters walk in. They stared. Along with quite a few others. Rose and Lilly wore red strapless dresses that went to just above their knees, red flats, black belts with a few pouches, black cargo vests, black leggings, and black devil horns and tails. Rose smirked. "You know these girls really aren't creative. Seems like we're the only non-princesses or fairies."

Lilly smiled as she caught Karou staring. "I think Karou likes it," she giggled, waving to him.

Rose eyed her sister, and made a fake gagging noise. "At least tell me Hikarou isn't looking."

"I don't think he's taken his eyes off of you."

Rose balled her hands up into her fists. "He'd better not let his hormones get the best of him..." she growled.

Lilly placed her hand on Rose's shoulder. "Rose, calm down. Last time you punched a guy we got banned from the super market."

"It was his fault! He was totally flirting with me after I told him specifically to stop. He was pretty bad at it, too."

Lilly rolled her eyes. She shoved her sister towards Hikarou, and she ended up bumping right into his chest. "Sorry 'bout that, I..." Rose stopped as she looked up at Hikarou. He looked not just attractive, but hot. Rose gulped. "So, eh, what're you supposed to be?" she asked, trying not to look like an idiot, or show any signs that her heart was pounding against her chest. Then she remembered how close she was to him and took a step back.

"Tasmanian Devil," Hikarou slightly stuttered. "So, you decided to come?" he asked, trying to find his brother. He was talking to Lilly... No, wait, flirting a bit.

Rose nodded. "Uhm, I guess you've got a lot of customers to get to, so I'll just go get Lilly."

Hikarou just kind of stared after her as she grabbed her sister by the wrist and made their way to the bathroom. Karou snuck up behind him. "So you like Rose?"

Hikarou jumped. "N-ye-maybe," he stuttered. He knew he couldn't lie to Karou, but he still didn't want to admit it. Karou just nodded, suggesting they get started hosting.

Just as the party was about to kick off, there was a black out. All the girls screamed, acting like it was the end of the world. The hosts kept telling them to remain calm, until a light fog crept in through the windows and doors. "Host Club," a ghostly voice wailed. Suddenly, Nekezowa was seen rising up from the ground in the middle of the dance floor.

"It's just Nekezowa," the Hitachiin Twins stuttered, trying to reassure their guests and themselves.

Nekezowa raised an arm to the twins. "By the powers of the devil," he chanted. He swung his arm to face Kyoya, "By the powers of the shadows." Nekezowa turned to Haruhi, "By the powers of the deceiver." This time his arm landed on Tamaki, who screamed like a little girl, "Using the weaknesses of the foolish prince," he faced Hunny and Mori, "And the small boy, combined with the protective giant." Nekezowa threw his arms up to the ceiling, yelling, " I curse the Host Club and all their guests!" And with his curse done, Nekezowa vanished with a puff of smoke.

Now the fog was at least knee-high, and there seemed to be a mysterious moonlight sort of glow in the room. Just as the room was beginning to relax, another ghostly wail was heard. "The time has come..." As everyone looked around, at least twenty hooded figures were coming towards them, carrying scythes.

"Grim Reapers!" Tamaki yelled. Then, the entire room fainted. Except for two girls who had used the twenty mirrors around the room to make it look like there were twenty of them. As they took of their hooded capes, they revealed red hair and devil costumes. The two girls looked at each other and instantly burst into laughter. "You should've seen your faces!" they chortled at the same time.

As everyone regained consciousness, they realized what was going on. "Damn," the Hitachiin Twins mumbled, "How'd you do that?"

The Gengara Sisters smiled evilly. "Well, we couldn't do it without the help of Nekezowa! So please give a round of applause to the master of curses himself!" As Rose pressed a button on a remote, Nekezowa rose on Renge's platform.

"You see," Lilly explained, "We 'borrowed' Renge's platform, along with a few fog machines. As the fog settled in, we used it to cover up Nekezowa's entrance."

"Then, once he was done," Rose continued, "We both used a few small smoke pellets that explode on contact that we had in our pockets and cranked up the fog to cover up his disappearance."

"Then we just put on some cloaks, grabbed a plastic scythe, and used the mirrors' reflections to make it look like there were twenty Grim Reapers," Lilly finished. Both the girls took a bow.

Tamaki blew a gasket. "GET OUT! How dare you scare us so!"

Rose grabbed a mini camera off of her scythe and yelled as she ran, "School newspaper, here we come!"

Lilly added as she ran after her sister, "Thank for being a part of the Gengara Sisters' yearly Hallow's Eve prank! We hope you'll think twice about ticking us off!"

The entire room was in silence. Until Kyoya managed to break the tension by suggesting they continue with the party.

Just the next day, the school newspaper featured a spectacular photo of the guests and Host Club fainting, and Rose and Lilly taking off their cloaks and laughing. Every girl in the school now shunned Rose and Lilly, but they didn't care. They were also banned from the Host Club for the time being, but big whoop.

However, Haruhi was left wondering. Finally, she confronted the sisters in the hall. "Why was I called the deceiver in the curse?" That was all she asked, and bluntly.

Rose and Lilly whispered into her ear, "We know your dirty little secret, Haruhi." And with that, they ran off to their next class, waiting for more shunning and dirty looks from the girls.

As they took their seats, they noticed that Hikarou and Karou were eying them again, and mumbling to each other. "Do they really think we don't notice?" Rose asked her sister, taking out her notebook, annoyed.

Lilly shrugged. As she took out her notebook, Haruhi walked into the room. She immediately sat down between the twins, a force of habit. Haruhi wore a slight frown, and it was obvious Hikarou and Karou noticed. Lilly whispered to Rose, "They're going to bug her."

"She'll eventually tell them."

"And after this last class, we'll be kidnapped."

"Do you have that pepper spray Dad gave us when he finally let us date?"

"Yup."

"Have it ready in case they do something rash."

"You mean more rash than usual."

"Yup."

As the two girls silently waited for the clock to tick the end of class, Hikarou and Karou were finding out what the girls had told Haruhi. Their eyes widened. Instantly, they looked over at the girls, sitting in front of them. Hikarou pulled out a piece of scrap paper, and the Hitachiins began planning the kidnapping.

Finally the clock ticked the end of school, and as everyone left, the Host Club trio and the Gengara Sisters took their sweet time. Haruhi was trying to convince the boys to abort the mission, thinking it was too harsh, but gave up, knowing they wouldn't listen.

As the boys silently crept up to the sisters, who were standing up from their desks, they managed to roundhouse kick the boys to the ground in the small space. It was a good thing their math teacher wasn't around. The boys sat on the ground, stunned, and Rose and Lilly told them, "Third-degree black belts in karate, and first degree in tae-kwon-do." Haruhi raised an eyebrow. Maybe self-defense lessons were a good idea after all.

The Hitachiin Twins finally recovered, and this time, settled for dragging the girls towards the door. It didn't work out so well.

"We're banned from the Host Club!" the girls retorted, slipping out of their grip.

The boys yelled back, "We're sure Tono would uplift the ban to take you into questioning!"

Rose and Lilly looked at each other. They seemed to be exchanging thoughts. Once they reached a conclusion, they looked back to the trio. "Fine, we'll go willingly."

As they walked out to the hall, Rose whispered to Hikarou, "You better not try any funny business or you'll lose an arm." She stared ahead, seeming to be some place else, a faraway look in her eyes.

Damnit, thought Hikarou, Why does she have to look so cute when she gets mad, and so hot when she looks off ahead? Blushing slightly from his thoughts, Hikarou followed Rose's example and looked silently ahead.

Haruhi had noticed the first signs of love from the two sets of twins. It seemed like Karou and Lilly were starting to develop a complex relationship. Hikarou and Rose were still in denial. Haruhi mused why Hikarou and Karou were so quiet. Maybe they still hadn't gotten over the shock from Rose and Lilly accepting to face the music willingly. Or the fact that they had been beat up by two girls. Haruhi looked towards the windows along the hallway, a smile tugging at her lips. Renge was right all along. The twins did like each other, and the four of them made great couples. Oh great, the teen magazines her father made her read were starting to take affect.

Karou was content with walking in silence, seeing as how there was nothing to say. His twin was obviously bugged by it, though. Karou looked over at Lilly. Her hair was in pigtails, and he smiled at how cute she looked.

Lilly felt Karou's eyes on her and looked up at him. His eyes were a deep gold, and she couldn't help but fall into them.

A thought occurred to Karou. He tried to brush it away, thinking it was stupid, but he was beat by his own logic. If you really like her, then you should show her and at least hold her hand. Karou hesitated for a moment, but Lilly got the same thought, too.

She smiled sincerely, and gave him a look that said, Of course I want to hold your hand.

Karou gently interlaced his fingers into hers, and both of their hearts skipped a beat. Then they looked ahead, perfectly happy to be together, leaving a dull world behind.

Rose noticed more and more notices that read, "Rose and Lilly Gengara are BANNED from the Host Club!!!!!!!" Obviously, Tamaki had put them together, and he had gone a little crazy with the exclamation points and colors. Rose smirked. "He really outdid himself with the glitter."

"He loved it when Haruhi told him about it. He bought at least three packages of the stuff, all in different colors," Hikarou snickered.

Karou looked over to Lilly. "Now, Tamaki might be a bit outraged when he sees you at first, so stay back with Haruhi as we explain."

Lilly lost a bit of her smile as she was reminded of the real world. "Right. And we'll try to ignore the dirty looks as well."

Hikarou and Rose's eyes were drawn to their siblings interlocked hands. They were going even further with this. While Karou whispered a joke to Lilly and she giggled, Rose hissed into Hikarou's ear, "We may not like each other, but you better not sabotage my sister's love."

Hikarou frowned. "I would never do something like that to my brother, or anyone he cared about."

Rose let go of her frown. "You really care about your brother."

"Of course I do. I'm not as obnoxious as you take me for."

Rose ignored his mean tone. She just smiled.

"What?"

"That's really sweet Hikarou," she whispered as she stopped at the door. Hikarou was taken aback by the compliment, but smiled.

"You aren't so bad yourself, Rose," he told her as he looked up to the door.

Haruhi pretended like she didn't notice what was going on. "We better get this over with," she grumbled, already picturing Tamaki's expression. It wasn't a happy one.

As the door swung open, Tamaki was there to greet them. "Wel-" he began, but he stopped cold as his eyes caught sight of the sisters. Luckily, Lilly and Karou had mentally agreed it would be best if they stopped holding hands. It would be best for Tamaki's health if he stayed blissfully unaware of their blossoming romance. "WHAT ARE THEY DOING HERE!" Tamaki began his endless rant to Kyoya and all the guests. "GET THEM OUT OF HERE! I KNEW YOU DEVIL TWINS WOULD BRING THEM BACK! MOMMY, MAKE THEM GO AWAY! DIDN'T THEY SEE THE WONDERFUL SIGNS I MADE! AND HARUHI IS WITH THEM; GET THEM AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER!"

Rose and Lilly raised an eyebrow. They asked Haruhi in unison, "Is he always this passionate?"

Haruhi frowned and nodded. "I see the guests like you about as much as Tamaki does," she commented, her eyes always landing on a fan girl glaring at the Gengara Sisters.

Rose shrugged. "Eh, we're used to it. I'm actually glad they stopped talking in our presence. It's always so annoying overhearing their conversations." Rose immediately talked in a high-pitched voice, mocking, "Oh, what cosplay will they do at the Host Club! Blah, blah, blah. Did you hear the new photo books are available! Blah, blah, blah. Host Club this, Host Club that."

Lilly shook her head. "I swear, I think they keep talking because they love the sound of their voices."

Haruhi chuckled, agreeing with them. She turned back to the scene in front of her. Tamaki was now waving his arms wildly, still yelling, but the twins had come up on either side of him, and whispered in his ears. Tamaki stopped abruptly. He looked at the twin sisters, his eyes growing wide.

Apparently Kyoya overheard, because he was now rushing their guests out, saying that hosting would be done for the day. The twin sisters knew the girls would probably just add that to the list of reasons to hate them.

Rose and Lilly were dragged over to a couch, with Mori and Hunny blocking the door. Kyoya sat down across from them, in calculation mode. "Is it true that you know Haruhi's true gender?"

"Uh-huh."

"Have you told this information to anyone?"

"Nope."

"Are you aware of why Haruhi must disguise herself as a boy?"

"Yup."

Kyoya sighed. "Alright. Then what would you like in return for keeping Haruhi's secret?"

Tamaki popped back into the conversation with, "Of course they won't keep the secret! The only solution is to have them suspended, no, expelled!"

Both sets of twins rolled their eyes at the same time. Lilly looked Kyoya straight in the eye and told him, "Nothing."

He raised his eyebrows. "Nothing?"

"You heard me, nothing."

"What's your reasoning behind that?" he asked them, writing something down on his clipboard.

Rose smirked. "We figure if the Host Club has to put up with that," she jerked her head towards Tamaki's rage fest, "Then there's nothing else we can do to make you more miserable."

"Now they're insulting me, Mommy!"

"Just be quiet, Tamaki."

Hikarou and Karou rose up from behind the couch. "We'll have to keep a close eye on them," Hikarou suggested mischievously. "That'll mean following them EVERYWHERE."

Rose's hands turned into fists. Lilly's face went grim as she sprang up, just barely managing to hold her sister back. Rose was trying to lunge at Hikarou, fists flying, screaming, "WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT ANY IDEAS! YOU'RE DAMN LUCKY LILLY'S HOLDING ME BACK!"

"Rose, stop!" Lilly yelled, avoiding her punches.

"JUST LET ME PUNCH HIM ONCE! I WANNA GIVE THIS PERVERT A PIECE OF MY MIND!"

The entire host club's faces went blank. Haruhi was amused, Tamaki was in agreement and almost suggested she put Hikarou in his place, Hunny was getting a little scared, Mori was guarding Hunny, Kyoya wrote down on his clipboard under Gengara, Rose 'tends to be violent', Karou was watching with fear for his brother, and Hikarou was somehow scared and somewhat turned on at the same time.

Finally, Rose stopped, panting for breath. Lilly took it as a sign to let go. "Ha!" Rose tackled Hikarou, but Lilly managed to pull her off.

"ROSE GEMINI GENGARA!" Lilly yelled her sister's full name. Rose stopped, knowing that Lilly never used her full name unless she was really ticked off. Lilly was outraged, fuming. She ordered, "Stop acting like you're an immature brat! You know better than to take out your past on somebody else! Now get in the limo, now!"

Rose was stunned. She couldn't believe her sister knew her that well, and still remembered. "But," she whined, jerking her head to Hikarou.

"NOW! I'm sick and tired of this happening whenever we meet a guy our age!" Lilly screamed, looking like she was about to kill someone. Now the Host Club had feelings of slight fear towards the girls.

Rose sulked off, still irritated from Hikarou's remark, and mad that her sister had brought up the bad memory. Lilly took a deep breath, and turned to face the club. She half-smiled. "Heh, sorry about that."

Hikarou stood up from the ground, where he had laid, stunned from when Rose tackled him. "What was that all about?"

Lilly looked out the window, like she was in another world, another time. "Once upon a time, Rose had quite the thing for real players."

Tamaki's ears perked. Ooh, a love story. He sat down on the couch, eager to listen. The others shared his enthusiasm, but weren't so obvious in showing it.

Lilly half-smiled. "There was one in particular, when we were living in Los Angeles. His name was Joey Brown, and he had a reputation for playing with girls' hearts, and then breaking them." Lilly turned to face the others, her face turning sad as she remembered.

"Rose thought she could change him. And at first, it seemed like she was different. It seemed like Joey Brown really loved her. But that was Joey's specialty, making it seem like he cared about her. Then one day, Joey dumped her. Didn't give her a reason, didn't say goodbye," here Lilly's face went angry, and she looked out the window again, "Didn't even give her the respect to say it to her face. Just sent a text like it was casual, after an entire year, he sent her the exact message: it's over. That's it.

Rose cried for hours, and the next day, it was like Joey had disappeared off the face of the earth. He ran away with some older girl, never to be seen again.

Maybe it was just a coincidence, but after that, every boy Rose dated left her for someone they thought was prettier, smarter, you get it. All that made Rose feel like she was worthless, so she even ran away. We couldn't find her for a week, and I guess I didn't try to find her, because I knew she didn't want to be found.

Finally she came home, and she pretended to be perky and cheery. But whenever she meets a boy who's a player, she's reminded of Joey Brown, and she wants to either run away or kill him." Lilly turned to the club, who was in shock from the sad, dark story. Lilly told them, "But Rose needs someone to show her that not every boy is Joey Brown. But she's so stubborn; she won't let anyone else in but me. She's not good with her emotions, and she needs somebody else who will take the time to show her that they care."

Lilly seemed to wake up from her memory. She bit her lip. Maybe she shouldn't have opened up like that. Still, the Host Club had a right to know. Hikarou's lips were parted slightly in shock. Now he knew why Rose seemed to hate him for no reason.

They all froze, stunned. Lilly looked over to Kyoya. "I need to get Rose home." Kyoya nodded.

"Just remember, we'll know if you've blown our secret," he told her, adding an air of mystery and menace. He decided not to threaten her, seeing as how the mood was already too tense.

Karou watched her go. Rose really was like Hikarou. And Lilly really was like himself.

Once Lilly left, Tamaki sobbed dramatically. "That was so sad!" he exclaimed, sniffling.

Hunny was crying, too. Mori just nodded. Haruhi looked out to the courtyard, where she saw Rose standing outside a limo. Lilly joined her. Hikarou and Karou peeked over Haruhi, and saw that Rose hung her head low, and her body was shaking with tears. Lilly hugged her, nudging her into the limo.

Kyoya broke the silence. "How about we start with some plans for our Christmas Ball?" The mood began to lighten, but the memories stayed with all the Hosts throughout the entire time.

* * *

**Disclaimer: I don't own OHSHC.**

**I started the chapter off as light and humorous, but I really wanted to do something a little deeper involving the Gengara Twin's past, and so, Rose freaked out and Joey Brown was born! I seriously have no idea why I named him that, I guess I just kind of figured, let's give him a name that sounds kind of like it came from Grease...**

**Anyways, reveiw please! I'm in the process of writing chapter 7, and it will hopefully be up by the weekend. *crossing fingers* Thanks to everyone who has read my fanfic so far! I'm really pleased by how popular this has become. Again, thank you, and until next time, the Host Club will be waiting for you! *random rose petals flutter in the breeze* (Sorry, I just had to do it)  
**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The Winter Ball

Rose was in a better mood the next few weeks, and slowly the girls stopped completely shunning the sisters. Their science projects were a smash, and the Host Club was busy with the Christmas Ball.

Tamaki took down the signs about Rose and Lilly being banned. After a few weeks of not really talking to each other, the twins finally acknowledged their presence. This time, Rose softened up a bit to Hikaru, but still acted like she didn't like him much.

One day in class, Hikaru and Kaoru slipped them a formal looking invitation. The girls opened them up, and saw that they were invited to the Host Club's Christmas Ball. Rose raised her eyebrows. She wasn't one for fancy, romantic parties. Lilly was the old, hopeless romantic.

But when Rose looked over to her twin, even Lilly was thinking about it. Rose could practically read her mind: We're going to watch the club hosting. Great. Rose gave her a look that said I know.

After class, the girls headed towards Music Room 3, since the Hitachiins passed them a note that said they needed help with decorations. Tamaki had told them he wanted to do it the commoner's way: by hand.

As Rose and Lilly entered, they were automatically greeted with, "You two didn't put up the decorations yet and the dance is tonight!"

Hikaru and Kaoru shrugged, Tamaki still fuming. He started rambling on about trustworthiness, and pressure, and something about honesty. Rose and Lilly finally made their presence known by clearing their throats.

"So, you needed help with decorations?" Rose asked. She huffed, "More like you're sticking us with the work you didn't do."

Hikaru and Kaoru came up beside each girl. "Ah, but we knew that you two would be willing to help with the ball that we know you've been anticipating!" they told them charmingly.

Lilly rolled her eyes. She told them, "First off, charming us will get you nowhere. Second, we probably aren't even going to the dance."

The Hitachiin Twins raised their eyebrows. "What? Why?"

Rose shrugged. "I don't like all these fancy parties. Plus, we'd just be watching you guys host the entire time." She added, "But I guess we can help. And I mean HELP. Not do all the work for you."

Haruhi looked up from where she was reading. "I'll help, too," she told them, closing her novel. Hikaru and Kaoru beamed.

As they were finishing with the snow-themed decorations, Kyoya was going through a checklist on his clipboard. "Everyone has their attire ready, I assume?" he asked, pushing his glasses up.

"Actually," Haruhi told him, "I'm not sure what I'm going to wear."

The Hitachiin Twins asked her, "What about the suit we gave you last year?"

Haruhi shrugged. "I grew out of it. Guess I'll just have to wear my school uniform."

Tamaki dramatically shook his head in disapproval. "Absolutely not!" he told her, "This a formal party! And as a host, it's your duty to dress in the proper attire!" Tamaki snapped his fingers. "Hitachiins!"

"Already done, Boss. The clothes were sent to the dressing room."

"Whoa, wait a second!" Rose put her hands out like she was telling them to stop. She scoffed, "Why are you two picking what Haruhi wears?"

Hikaru smirked, "In case you've forgotten, our mother is a hit fashion designer."

Lilly was already walking up to Tamaki. "You know, our mother is Sakura Gengara, also a renowned fashion designer. Now whom do you trust more with Haruhi? Us, or Hikaru and Kaoru?"

Tamaki was immediately won over. The Hitachiins pouted as the Gengara Twins stuck their tongues out, leading Haruhi over to the rack of clothes.

The sisters examined each one, and had Haruhi try on a few pairs of pants or shirts. Finally they settled on a red dress shirt, gray jacket, gray pants, a black tie, and black shoes. The sisters grinned at their handiwork. Haruhi approved of it, too.

As Haruhi showed the other hosts, who were also wearing formal attire, they were amazed at the girls' keen fashion sense. "I have to admit," Tamaki told the others, "They really help my daughter shine!"

"Speaking of them," Hikaru asked, "Where are they?"

Just a minute later, Rose and Lilly stepped into the ballroom, only they were transformed. They both had on beautiful, red satin dresses with thick straps and a ribbon going around under their chests, showing off their figure. Their makeup was practically perfect, making their hazel eyes glow. They had put their hair up into curls that went to their shoulders. Now that Lilly's freckles had disappeared, they were mirror images of beauty.

"So, you changed your mind?" Kaoru asked slyly, examining Lilly.

Lilly smiled. She told him, "We decided to see the party we helped decorate."

As the party kicked off, girls commented about how they loved the decorations and Haruhi's outfit, and when they learned that Rose and Lilly had done both, suddenly everyone wanted to be their friend.

Just as Rose and Lilly escaped from the fan girls and landed outside, they found they had company. The Hitachiin Twins were looking at them, their heads cocked to the side.

"What?" the twin girls asked in unison.

The Hitachiin Twins got an evil smirk as they unexpectedly shoved them towards a door a few meters away. "Revenge," they snickered, as they slammed the girls inside the room.

Rose tried jiggling the handle, but found that it was locked from the outside. As Lilly flicked on a light switch, they found they were in an especially large closet. "How convenient. A closet that locks from the outside," Rose mumbled miserably, taking a seat on an extra bench. She looked up to Lilly, who was in thought. "Now what do we do?"

Lilly suddenly got an idea. "We turn the tables on them," she told her sister. Then she looked down, and realized she was leaning on an extra café table. "No pun intended."

"How?"

Lilly whipped out her cell phone. "I'm going to make a quick call."

* * *

Hikaru and Kaoru had a spring in their step as they walked back to join the other hosts. True, locking the girls in a closet wasn't their best work, but it was better than nothing.

Hunny was looking around. As he spotted the twins, he called out to them, "Where are Rose and Lilly?"

"Last time we saw them, they were getting a quick breath of fresh air," the Hitachiins shrugged. They had to try hard to keep from snickering.

Tamaki made the best of the moment. "True," he proclaimed, striking a dramatic pose, "Our beauty is quite breath-taking."

"Hm," Kyoya was taking something out of his pocket. He gave Hikaru and Kaoru a look that could've frozen the sun. "They went out for some air?"

"Yup," the Hitachiins told him, trying to keep their voices even. They were starting to get nervous. What was the Shadow King up to?

He pulled out a cell phone. "That's strange. Because I just got a call from Ms. Lilly, telling me that they are currently locked in our closet that locks from the outside. And she happened to mention that you two were with them, at the time."

Crap. Kyoya pressed on, putting his phone away, "So, _did_ you lock them in the closet?"

"…No…" Hikaru replied unintelligently. Kaoru was still trying to think of something to say.

Mori and Hunny were already bringing a very furious-looking pair of female twins back inside. Their first reaction was to slap them. "Explain why you decided you'd lock us in a closet," Rose demanded.

The other hosts watched in silence and awkwardness. "Sur-prise?" Hikaru and Kaoru put their hands up in a weak ta-da.

Lilly turned to Kyoya, raising an eyebrow. "What did you have in mind for a punishment?"

Kyoya slid his glasses up, the glare in them making him look menacing. "Oh, you'll find out soon enough." The entire Host Club, plus the Gengara Twins, shuddered.

The rest of the party was fairly fun, but Rose and Lilly stayed as far away as possible from Hikaru and Kaoru.

Finally, the entire Host Club stood on the grand stairs of the ballroom, with the Hitachiin Twins holding microphones. "And now, a specially chosen lady will be lucky enough to receive a kiss on the cheek from our very own, Tamaki Suoh!" they announced with a dramatic flair.

All the girls squealed with delight, and some even fainted, except for Rose and Lilly, who just rolled their eyes and scowled.

Hikaru and Kaoru were ready to announce the lucky lady, but it seemed Kyoya had decided he would tell the girls himself. "Actually, Hikaru and Kaoru will be giving the kiss," Kyoya calmly stated, listening to a few disappointed sighs and more squeals. _What is he up to?_ the Host Club, Rose, and Lilly thought. The light caught Kyoya's glasses, making his eyes impossible to see, as he pushed them up. That was not a good sign. "And the lucky _ladies_ are," Kyoya announced, "Rose and Lilly Gengara!"

"WHAT?!"

There was an awkward silence as fan girls puzzled over why they were chosen, and the Host Club and "lucky ladies" realized that this was Kyoya's punishment. Hikaru and Kaoru stood, twitching. "No," they hissed to Kyoya. "Not in a million years. Not if our lives depended on it, not if we were the last four people on earth!"

Rose yelled up at Kyoya, wildly waving her arms, "What's the big idea?! Hikaru and Kaoru are supposed to be punished, not us!"

"HEY!"

Lilly rolled her eyes. She scoffed, "What? You think we enjoy this anymore than you two?"

"For your information, this is definitely our forte."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Prove it!"

"Fine! We will!"

The Hitachiins stomped towards them, fuming. Rose and Lilly didn't look any happier. Hikaru gently leaned in close to Rose, while Kaoru did the same to Lilly. All four of their hearts seemed to stop as Hikaru and Kaoru gently kissed their cheeks, seeming to let the moment last. When they finally let go, everyone stood, shocked. Except for Kyoya.

Rose and Lilly recovered quickly. "Weak," they teased nonchalantly.

"What? You so enjoyed that."

"Honestly? It would've been nicer kissing a dead fish."

"You two are idiots."

"It takes one to know one."

The mood returned to normal, but both the pairs of twins were secretly harboring deeper feelings at that moment.

Haruhi saw it in the Hitachiin Twins fairly easily. At least in Hikaru's actions, she did. She looked over at Kyoya, the mastermind behind all of this.

_All according to plan_, Kyoya thought, jotting something down.

Haruhi studied him for a bit. Matchmaker Kyoya? She played around with the idea for a bit, but decided there was no way the Shadow King would do this for anything other than his amusement. At least from her perspective.

As the party drew to a close and the girls began to leave, the Hitachiins finally approached Rose and Lilly, devilish smirks on their faces. "So, you didn't enjoy it, did you?"

"Nope," the girls replied nonchalantly, lying.

The Hitachiin Twins smirked. "So then you wouldn't mind kissing us... _on the lips_."

Before Rose and Lilly could holler at them, Tamaki popped up. He scolded, "You two doppelgangers! Are you _trying_ to deflower these young maidens? Honestly, if you want to be in the Host Club, you need to learn to be gentlemen!"

Rose and Lilly exchanged a quick glance between each other behind Tamaki's back. Then they turned, a mischievous smirk flashing on their faces as they glanced at the twins, and then Rose began, "Oh, thank you Tamaki!"

The entire Host Club stared. Hikaru and Kaoru twitched.

Lilly cooed, "Oh, we don't know what we would've done if you hadn't come to our rescue!"

Tamaki was flustered. Somehow, he managed to sputter out, "Yes, well… It's my duty as the Host Club king to protect fair maidens like yourselves from troublemakers such as these two."

The Gengara Twins giggled at the same time, "Oh, you flatter us too much, Tamaki!"

"How did you ever become so modest and kind?" Rose asked, both of the girls leaning closer to him, taking hold of one of his arms.

"Yes, well-" Tamaki was cut off when Rose and Lilly both went on their toes and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek on either side of him.

"Thank you again, Tamaki!" they both cooed as they walked towards the exit, waving with smiles on their faces.

The Host Club stared, Tamaki blushing and flustered, and Hikaru and Kaoru now fuming mad all over again. Hikaru yelled, "HEY! You kiss Tono, but you don't kiss us?!"

Rose turned towards him, an evil and angry smirk on her face. She told him, "If you want to be players, then we can too!"

Lilly stared at her, biting her lip. She quickly pushed Rose towards the exit, nervous. Rose was starting to show the seven symptoms of seriously hurting a guy. "We'll see you tomorrow!" Lilly shouted over her shoulder, still pushing Rose out the door.

Rose turned her head back towards Hikaru, sticking out her tongue. Hikaru's hands turned into fists. _Damnit, _he thought angrily, _Why does she have to be so cute when she's mad?_

Haruhi raised an eyebrow. "Well that was interesting."

Kyoya jotted something down. "Quite," he mumbled, seeming to be pleased his plan had gone along so well. Because little did the other Host Club know, Kyoya did have a heart, somewhere deep inside all that darkness. And somehow, his heart had opened up to Hikaru and Rose's situation. What better way than to push those two together, and let Lilly and Kaoru fall in love at the same time?

* * *

Kaoru was sitting beside his twin in the limo, on their way home from the party. Hikaru was still pouting. Kaoru told him, "You know they only did that to mess with us?"

"Yeah," Hikaru pouted. He was staring out his window, apparently in angry thought. Kaoru knew exactly what he was thinking. He smiled a bit to himself as he turned towards his own window. Hikaru was mad, even if he knew it was just a tease. Why? Simple, he wasn't good with showing and telling his feelings, so they usually came out as frustrated and angry. So how did this apply to Rose? Again, simple. Hikaru obviously had feelings for Rose. Heck, Kaoru was having feelings about Lilly.

Now, it was time to make a move, before this got out of hand. He wasn't going to let Hikaru ruin his own chance at happiness, and maybe it was time they found somebody. He whipped out his cell phone, dialing with the speed of a peregrine falcon, which, yes, is faster than a cheetah.

"Hello, Lilly?"

Hikaru's heart stopped. He looked over grimly at his brother, mouthing, _What the hell are you doing?_

Kaoru just gave him the signature Hitachiin knowing smirk. "Yes, I wanted to ask if you wanted to go to a movie tomorrow, at around lunch?… Yeah, that sounds awesome… Oh, and could you bring Rose, too? I'll make sure Hikaru comes… I'll text you the details later, right now, it looks like Hikaru is going to murder me."

Kaoru hung up, but not before hearing Rose in the background scream, "LILLY!" at the top of her lungs. He was also pretty sure Lilly heard Hikaru yell his name at the top of his lungs.

"What are you doing?!" Hikaru waved his arms frantically, flustered. "May I remind you I hate Rose and she hates me?!"

Kaoru beamed. "Hikaru, sometimes I know you better than you know yourself. You obviously don't hate Rose, and from how Lilly was talking, I don't think Rose hates you."

"Oh yeah? Then what do I feel towards her?"

"Only you can answer that, Hikaru."

Hikaru crossed his arms, still mad at his twin. "You've got to stop talking like that, Kaoru," he told him, returning to look out his window, "You're not making any sense."

Kaoru sighed. But now a bigger dilemma was at hand besides setting up the date. Actually, there were a few. One, what exactly would Hikaru wear? Two, how was he supposed to ensure that Hikaru actually stayed and talked to Rose? And the biggest issue of all: How the heck was he going to get Hikaru to even come?

Kaoru sighed again. It's hard being the twin that has to understand everyone and help his brother find happiness. But hey, someone had to do it.

* * *

**Disclaimer: I don't own OHSHC, or the smexy Hitachiin Twins. *sobs***

**So, it looks like Kaoru is once again setting his brother up, but this time, he may be hooking up with his brother's date's sister. ;)**

**But more importantly... THE SHADOW KING HAS A HEART?! *le gasp* Sorry if it was a bit OOC, but I figured under all that coldness and calculation, there had to be a heart somewhere, right?**

**Anyways, review! I'm really happy that so many people like what I'm writing, and it really does help keep me going. Thanks again to all my readers! And stay tuned for the big double date!  
**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Double Date

"No. No, no, no, no, no, no, and a thousand times, no!"

Lilly sighed, watching her sister cross her arms as she sat on her bed. It was already eleven-o'-clock, and they had one hour until they had to meet up with Hikaru and Kaoru for a movie and lunch. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem. However, Rose was being stubborn as ever, insisting that there was no humanly possible way to make her go to that double date. Lilly complained, "Rose, stop being such a brat. You might enjoy yourself."

Rose didn't budge. "I know for a fact I won't."

Lilly got an evil smile on her face as she reached into her locked drawer. "Oh, then you won't mind me showing these pictures to the school newspaper from the, 'Tomato Incident.'"

Rose's face went pale. She whispered, "You promised you would never speak of that again."

"So, it's decided. You're going!" Lilly cheered, carefully locking away the embarrassing photos. She beamed as Rose stood up.

Rose huffed, "But I'm not dressing in anything nicer than sweats."

Lilly tackled her sister, shoving her into the bathroom, and putting a chair under the handle so she couldn't get out. "Which is why you are not getting out of that bathroom until you get ready and put on the clothes I picked out for you."

Rose sat on the tile, still recovering from the attack. She stood up, looking over at the counter with an ensemble laid out. She groaned. "Why did you have to pick out something so… _girly_?"

"Because I know Hikaru would love to see you in that," she heard her sister yell from the other side of the door, probably heading over to one of the other bathrooms.

Rose growled as she looked over at the pile of clothes again. She sulked on the edge of the bathtub, deep in thought. Her sister was certainly determined, but why? _Maybe she really likes Kaoru_, Rose thought, smiling to herself. She wanted her twin to be happy, so she finally got up and began to get ready. Little did Rose know, Lilly was doing this to make Rose see her true feelings for Hikaru and move on from her past just as much as she liked Kaoru.

* * *

Meanwhile, a similar problem was going on at the Hitachiin household, except Hikaru had locked himself in their personal fashion studio. Kaoru was trying to persuade him to come out. "C'mon, Hikaru," Kaoru cooed, "You know you don't want to be alone today."

Hikaru pouted. That was true. He looked around at the manikins with prototypes that he and his brother had designed together. Well, mainly Kaoru, but Hikaru was better at the calculations. He sighed. Perhaps spending the day without his twin pouting wasn't the best day. But he wasn't giving in that easy. "I'm not wearing anything without my approval," he gave in, deciding that if Kaoru wanted to go on a date with Lilly so badly, he might as well make him happy.

Kaoru beamed as Hikaru opened the door, still a little ticked off. "Excellent! So, what did you have in mind?" Kaoru asked as they headed back to their room. Step one of his five-step plan was complete. On to step two, the outfit.

Hikaru shrugged. "Something clean?"

Kaoru frowned at his twin's little effort. "Please at least pretend to try, Hikaru," he complained as he opened up their walk-in closet. He searched around, pulling out a few shirts and pants until he finally decided on a white tank top with a blue and green plaid shirt over, like a jacket, jeans, and sneakers.

Hikaru looked at the outfit, shrugging. "Works for me." As he took the clothes from his brother, he asked, "Why these, though?"

Kaoru gave him the signature Hitachiin smirk. "I just have a good feeling about this particular ensemble."

* * *

"They're late," Rose grumbled, not in a very cheery mood. Just as she had expected, both of the girls were kept waiting at the restaurant, a nice little Italian bistro. Rose fingered her outfit. Lilly had made her wear a beige, brown, and black knit sweater dress with slim brown boots.

Lilly rolled her eyes. "Only five minutes," she told her, sitting opposite from her sister. She had chosen a gray, off the shoulder, knit sweater, a black skirt, and slim gray boots. Lilly looked up as she heard the bell above the door chime, signaling the entrance of the Hitachiin Twins. Lilly beamed, spotting Kaoru, who was looking dashing in a red long-sleeve shirt with a white bubble vest, jeans, and sneakers.

"Look who's here," she chimed to Rose, signaling for her to look.

Rose turned around, a bored expression on her face. Once she saw Hikaru, though, her mouth fell open a little. She gulped, trying to control her hormones. "Meh," she bluffed to her sister, still looking at Hikaru.

Hikaru went a little wide-eyed when he spotted Rose. Kaoru snickered. "Told you you wanted to come," he teased, leading his slightly shocked brother over to the table.

Kaoru took a seat next to Lilly, forcing Hikaru to sit with Rose. After drinks and orders were placed, Kaoru cracked the ice with, "So, do you two come here often?"

Lilly shrugged. "It's the first place that we ate out when we moved to Japan. Plus, we love Italian food," she told him.

"Moved?" Kaoru asked. "Where from?"

Lilly told him, never breaking eye contact, "Well, we only moved here three years ago, but before, we typically only lived in a place for a year or less. Some of our favorite places were America, France, and Thailand."

As Lilly and Kaoru began to have and in-depth conversation, Hikaru was absent-mindedly sipping his soda, bored. Rose looked around, tapping her foot impatiently as if she had somewhere important to be. Until the food got there.

Hikaru asked the waitress coldly, "Have any maple syrup?"

"I can check," she told him, smiling sweetly. She hurried towards the kitchen, and Hikaru turned back to his pasta.

Rose raised an eyebrow. She scoffed, "Maple syrup? On pasta?"

"Yeah, so?" Hikaru asked, anger in his eyes.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Maybe next time we should go to IHOP."

"Like you don't have something you put on every food?"

Rose grinded her teeth, and Hikaru's hands turned into fists. Lilly and Kaoru automatically entered desperate-fix-the-conversation-mode. Lilly told the Hitachiins, "Well, sometimes we put hot sauce on food."

"Oh, you like spicy food, too?" Kaoru asked, going along with it.

Lilly nodded. "When we spent our summer in Mexico, it was heaven."

"Mexico, huh? How hot was the food?"

Unfortunately, the 'sensitive' siblings plan backfired, because now they were completely focused on each other and had left Rose and Hikaru to their moping. The rest of lunch was pretty much this way, until Hikaru began tapping his watch impatiently as Kaoru began to joke around with Lilly. "Movie?" Hikaru reminded him, irritation in his voice.

"Keep your pants on, Hitachiin," Rose growled. Hikaru frowned, looking away.

Once they left the restaurant and had headed over to an exclusive movie theater, they looked at what was showing. "Hmm… Nothing good," Lilly mumbled, her eyes scanning the board.

Karou shrugged. He smiled, "We can always just look around, right?" It was all part of his plan. Unfortunately, step two was to have a talkative dinner, which had worked out for Lilly and himself, but was intended for Rose and Hikaru. On to step three, get them alone and get them talking.

Lilly followed along, somehow catching on. She led them over to a large crowd, taking Kaoru's hand, and walked as fast as she could, weaving her way through the crowd. Kaoru laughed, "Slow down!" He added a little lower so that only Lilly could hear, "We don't want to lose complete track of them."

Lilly waved the thought away, knowing what she was doing. She sneaked a quick peek behind her, to find Hikaru and Rose getting lost in the sea of people, shouting their names. Lilly hurried over to an art stand by a festival, hiding her and Kaoru. "So, what's the next step after abandoning them?"

Kaoru looked over to Lilly, surprised she had caught on so quickly. "Keep an eye on them to make sure things go smoothly," he told her, ducking as the crowd spit Hikaru and Rose out onto the street.

Rose shoved Hikaru hard, brushing herself off. "Way to go Columbus," she mocked, "Thanks to your horrible eyesight and sense of direction, we're lost!"

Hikaru stumbled, but recovered quickly. He snapped back, "It's not _all_ my fault! You weren't exactly a big help. Besides, Kaoru can easily blend in, I should know."

"Yes, because it's so hard to see a guy with orange hair and a red shirt on!"

Lilly bit her lip. "This is not good," she mumbled, her eyes glued on Rose. _Please don't turn your hands into fists or growl_, Lilly prayed.

Kaoru raised an eyebrow as he noticed Lilly acting nervous. It was practically radiating from her. "Something wrong?" he whispered, looking back to his brother and 'date'.

Lilly sighed. She whispered, "Well, as you have seen before, Rose tends to be a little more… _violent_ than the other girls. And over the years, I've started noticing that there are seven things she does before she… hurts someone, particularly a boy. If she does at least five of the seven things… well, let's just say most of the hospital chains are familiar with her work."

Kaoru raised another eyebrow. "She does it that often?"

"It's what got us banned from several stores."

Kaoru looked back over to the fuming Rose and Hikaru. He was starting to become a little fearful for his brother. Then a thought occurred to him. _Doesn't that mean Lilly can easily do that to me?_ He peeked over at Lilly, who was observing them closely, and made a mental note to never piss her off. Kaoru asked, "How many things has she done?"

"Three."

Just two more before his twin's face was going to be easy to tell apart from his, if you catch my drift. Lilly seemed to lighten up, though. "I don't think she'll hurt Hikaru, though," she mumbled.

"Why?"

Lilly smiled. "I think she's starting to realize she never really wants to hurt him too badly."

"How much is too badly?"

Lilly laughed, making Kaoru smile. He hadn't intended it to be a complete joke, because there was still a part of his mind that was screaming for him to jump out in between Rose and Hikaru and yell, "Hey! Glad we found you!"

Kaoru grabbed Lilly's hand, also sensing that Rose was lightening up, telling her, "Come on! We might as well have some fun while we wait to 'accidentally run into them'."

Lilly smiled. She looked back, hoping that Rose would be sharing her smile by the end of the day.

* * *

It was a good thing that Lilly had only seen the back of her twin's head, because the look on Rose's agitated face would be enough for Lilly to seriously reconsider her goals for her. Rose slumped down on a bench, looking around. "What do we do now?" she asked, mostly to herself.

Hikaru sat down beside her. He quickly scoffed, "Isn't obvious? We have to find Kaoru and Lilly."

"And just end up on the other side of Japan? I don't think so," she snapped, crossing her legs.

Hikaru crossed his arms. "Fine, then what do you suggest?"

"We use modern technology and call them."

Hikaru smirked, "Tried that already. No bars here." His smirk grew as he saw Rose slumping in defeat. "So _now_ should we look for them?"

Rose gave him a quick glare before standing up, mumbling, "Sure, whatever."

They walked in silence, seeming to silently agree to head into the art festival. Neither looked at each other, but somehow people around them whispered about the cute, young couple passing by, and asking why they weren't holding hands.

Hikaru huffed, "Commoners are so stupid."

"Yeah? Why?" Rose asked, getting a little touchy on the subject. Her father had raised her and Lilly that way, insisting that they should know in case they needed to live lower than their usual standards.

Hikaru rolled his eyes. "Are you deaf, or something? All these women are gossiping that we're going out."

"Technically, this was supposed to be a double date."

"Yeah, well I only agreed to come for Kaoru's sake."

"I only agreed to come for Lilly."

"You're only saying that because I said it first and you didn't want to sound like a jerk!"

"Yeah, well now _you_ sound like a jerk!"

"I do not!"

"You so do! And denying it only makes it worse!" At this point, they were having a full-fledged argument in the middle of the festival, catching a few looks from the shoppers and craftsmen around them.

After a few minutes of arguing, Hikaru looked down the street, and before he could turn back and exclaim that he was going to look for the two alone, Rose was gone. He looked around, not sure why he was suddenly worried. _This is just like when Kaoru set me up for that date with Haruhi_, he thought, his mind going back to when she had suddenly disappeared. Then he remembered she had gone off to see something, so he turned around, and found Rose standing in an art stall that sold prints of a famous artist's work.

Hikaru walked over to her, about to tell her to not abandon him and worry him like that, when he remembered he was supposed to still be mad at her. "You can't leave in the middle of an argument like that!" he told her, Rose not paying attention.

"Monet," she mumbled, holding a print of a landscape. Hikaru looked around the stall, and realized that was the artist.

Hikaru cocked his head, "You like him?"

Rose shrugged, "I just like doing my own art in art class, I never really pay attention to the history much. But Lilly is obsessed with painting. Monet's her favorite, and really one of her sources of inspiration. She has a collection of his prints." Rose looked back at the picture she was holding, adding, "She doesn't have this one, though."

Hikaru just stood there, a little stunned. Rose looked up at him, and he realized she was holding a second one. He remembered that this particular print was _Water Lilies_. Rose beamed, "Think Kaoru will like it? Lilly blabbed on and on about him liking Monet, and I'm sure the lilies would make him remember her."

Hikaru shrugged. "Why do you care about Kaoru?"

It was Rose's turn to shrug. "He makes my sister happy, and that's all I really want at this point in life," she told him. She added quietly as she walked over to pay, so he could barely hear her, "Plus, I thought you might want to give it to your brother."

Hikaru smiled, just a little to himself. He followed Rose out of the stall, his mood lighter than before. "So, what should we do now?" he asked, walking with her for a few minutes.

Rose thought. "Well, we could always-"

"HEY! Look at that!" Now Hikaru ran over to a stall, apparently intrigued by some commoner's item.

"Have you run off before I finish my sentence," Rose finished to herself sighing. She figured she at least owed him this one for disappearing on him.

As she walked closer to him, she saw he was holding an aluminum can that you might find soda in. "What is it?" she asked, leaning closer to him, trying to read the label.

Rose's hand touched Hikaru's as she rotated the can towards her, causing both of them to silently blush. Hikaru told her, "Cold hot chocolate." He laughed, "Have you ever heard of something this ridiculous?"

Rose smiled, "Well, I've heard of cold pizza. Tastes pretty good."

Hikaru made a disgusted face. "Who eats _cold_ pizza?"

"Commoners, which is how my dad raised me," she told him, her voice getting a little cold. She winced a little at his slightly hurt expression, but he seemed to bounce right back up.

The stall owner coughed, looking at Hikaru expectantly. "You buying it?" he asked gruffly, folding his arms.

Hikaru thrust some bills at him, "Keep the change," he told him, smirking at the stall owner's wide eyes as he began to count out the money. Apparently, he had no clue who Hikaru was.

Rose followed Hikaru out, and he took an experimental sip, then got a look on his face that made Rose burst out laughing. He quickly spit it out, trying to get the taste out of his mouth. Rose looked at the can, and told him, "You're supposed to shake well, baka."

Hikaru's mouth formed an o, as he watched Rose try to stir/shake the already open can. He laughed as some of it landed on her. She thrust the can at him, teasing, "Har-har. Now drink up, wise guy!"

Hikaru smirked at her playfulness, taking another sip. He thought for a bit before swallowing, and peered inside the can. "Strange," he thought out loud, swirling the drink around. Suddenly, he thrust the can towards Rose, who blinked at his boldness, and told her, "Try it."

Rose eyed him carefully as she took the drink out of his hands and had a quick sip. Her brow furrowed, causing Hikaru to think how cute she looked, thus causing him to blush. Rose stuck out her tongue. "Nasty."

"I know, right?" Hikaru told her knowingly, taking the drink back. Rose could practically feel her hormones get to work, thinking about how charming he was for being bold. A single name flashed in her head to silence the thoughts about bold, bad boys: Joey Brown. She pushed the thought out of her head, focusing on Hikaru, who was taking another swig.

"If it's disgusting," she asked, "Then why are you still drinking it?"

Hikaru thought for a bit. He told her, "Well, it's strangely addicting. Like commoner's coffee." Hikaru offered her the can again, and she tried it once more, still more than willingly giving it back to him.

"Your spit probably made it taste worse," she teased, watching as Hikaru chugged it down.

Hikaru stuck out his tongue. "Like swapping spit with you is phenomenal."

Rose froze. She blinked for a minute, the words clicking. "What did you say?"

"Swapping spit…?" Hikaru had no idea where this was going.

Rose explained for him, "Which is another term for…"

"Kissing?" Hikaru was frozen, too. The two just stared at each other, then looked at the can, back at each other, and blinked. Hikaru shook the thought away with his free hand, "Nah, doesn't really count if it's from a can."

"Yeah," Rose immediately agreed, trying to find a way out of this awkward conversation. Then she smiled and teased, "But I bet even the can kisses better than you."

Hikaru fought back playfully, "I bet you haven't even kissed a bad boy."

Rose cringed slightly, painful memories coming back as she remembered the old days. Hikaru frowned, apologizing. Rose told him, still a little forlorn, "But to tell you the truth, you're right."

"You've never kissed someone on the lips?"

"Neither have you!" she snapped, folding her arms, her shopping bag swinging.

Hikaru opened his mouth for a comeback, but found none. Because oddly enough, she was right. He just hung his head, focusing on the can. "Well, I don't see what the big deal is," he bluffed, "Everyone's so obsessed with their first kiss, that they act like if you haven't kissed anyone, you're a loser."

"Yeah," Rose agreed, trying to cover up her anxiety. "It's no big deal."

Hikaru's head popped up. "Wait, do you want to…?"

"Get it over with?" Rose shrugged, half-smiling unsurely. "You know, just to tell people."

"Yeah, right." Hikaru stood, looking at her faint blush and sheepish expression, and Rose looked up at his. For a moment, it seemed like they didn't need much convincing. Then Rose coughed, and giggled as Hikaru mentally smacked himself, "Oh, right!"

He gently leaned in close to her, feeling her warm breath. Their lips were now inches apart, and he slowly closed the gap, gently pressing against her lips. Rose kissed him back, opening her mouth slightly and sliding her tongue into his. Hikaru's hand made its way down to her waist, and the other held the back of her head, pushing her a little closer. Rose had her arms around his neck, and as they gently broke the moment, they could hear a few people cooing at how cute the young couple was.

For half a second, the two just looked at each other, sort of smiling and blushing. Then, they both seemed to simultaneously analyze the situation, and quickly jumped back, securing quite a few feet between them.

"So… umm… yeah," Rose stuttered, flustered. What she had felt in that one precious moment, could it have been…?

Hikaru helped her out, "We got it over with."

Rose blushed. "You wanna not tell anyone?" She mumbled to herself, "At least not now."

Hikaru nodded, a little red in his cheeks, "Yeah."

Little did Rose and Hikaru know, their twins had been watching the entire thing from a few stalls away. Lilly squealed, "Yes! We did it, Kaoru!" She threw her arms around his neck, enveloping him in a hug.

Slowly, Kaoru and Lilly pulled away, looking into each other's eyes. The next thing they knew, they were gently kissing. Unlike Rose and Hikaru, though, there was no awkward part. Lilly teased, "So if that was Hikaru's first kiss, then that means…"

Kaoru beamed like a five-year-old, "That was mine. And I presume that was yours?"

"You guessed correct." Lilly looked over at Rose and Hikaru, who were now looking around, still a fair amount of space in between them. Lilly sighed, still hugging Kaoru, "We better 'accidentally' run into them."

Kaoru took her hand, and they jogged towards the two, yelling, "There you two are!" Rose and Hikaru turned around, relieved to have 'found' their siblings.

Rose seemed to remember something. "Oh, yeah," she handed Kaoru one of her shopping bags, "Hikaru wanted to buy this for you."

Kaoru took the bag with the hand that wasn't holding Lilly's, and peeked inside. Kaoru smiled at his brother, "Excellent choice."

Rose handed her bag to Lilly, and Lilly laughed. She smiled kindly, "You never forget, do you?"

Hikaru wasn't one for sappy moments, and the awkwardness between him and Rose was definitely growing, so he piped in, "We better start heading back. It's almost time for dinner."

"Yeah," Kaoru teased the girls, "You two defenseless girls shouldn't be left out here after dark alone."

Rose rolled her eyes, directing her comment mainly to Hikaru, since Kaoru was busy exchanging gooey love faces with Lilly, "You realize we were the ones who kicked your butts when you tried to kidnap us."

Hikaru scoffed, "You caught us by surprise!"

They left it at that, and Kaoru and Lilly walked, their hands still intertwined. Rose and Hikaru still kept their distance from each other, but it seemed that somehow, the awkward barrier between them was slowly, brick by brick, beginning to disappear.

* * *

**Disclaimer: I only own my OCs, kay?**

**Yeah! My computer is fixed, so now I can upload more chapters and stories! Thanks to everyone, especially those who have a tendency to become impatient with stories.  
**

**So, their first kiss! I'm a bit of a sucker for romance, so of course I had to make it everyone's _first_ kiss. Of course, Hikaru and Rose didn't really want to... ****Notice how I said that the barrier is disappearing _brick by brick_? I'm really trying not to rush this story, so it's going to take some time...****but anyway!**

**What did you think? I only know if you review, so please do! And stay tuned for more!  
**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Same Names

Perhaps the most awkward day of Rose and Hikaru's lives were the Monday they came back to school, after they had kissed. It wasn't that they were especially worried about anyone finding out, it was just… weird.

Rose kept debating with herself in her mind. There were two sides, the side that hated Hikaru and his guts, and the other side, who was trying to decide whether her feelings for him were… deep. Nothing short of a full-fledged debate was going on in her mind. Lilly had kept trying to prod her and get her to spill, but the closest thing she got was a mumbled, "I'm just thinking."

Lilly was trying to snap Rose out of her daze as the final bell rang. "Earth to Rose!" she was yelling in her twin's ear, "Come in Rose!"

Rose jolted out of her daydream, blinking. She snapped at Lilly, "I was thinking. No need to completely disrupt class."

Lilly raised an eyebrow. "Why do you think I was snapping you out of it? Class is over."

Rose blushed a light scarlet as she looked around the empty room. "Oh," she mumbled, packing up her stuff in a hurry. As she popped out of her seat, following Lilly out to the hallway, she asked, "So, where to?"

"Well, I figure we could stop by the Host Club real quick so I could say hi to Kaoru and we could bug Tamaki."

Rose shrugged. Ever since Lilly and Kaoru had tried to set up their siblings, they'd been closer than ever. Rose didn't mind, but it meant that she would have to see Hikaru.

"Well, I thought we could- AHH!" Rose was cut off when she slipped on the waxy stairs leading outside to a cobblestone path. How perfectly safe. Lilly followed her example, her feet flying out in front of her.

Just as they were about to hit the pathway leading to the Host Club's outdoor cosplay, a tall figure with short brown hair swooped in, holding them up in her arms. "My, my. It would seem that Ouran has gotten lucky as to have two more beautiful maidens enroll here instead of Lobelia."

Lilly thought for a minute. Lobelia… wasn't that an all girl's school? But what would someone from Lobelia be doing here? She couldn't exactly ask, though, thanks to Rose's self defense instincts.

From the flirtatious compliment, Rose immediately stepped on the high heel shoe of their savior, and elbowed her in the ribs, causing the tall student to release them. Rose made a mad dash, Lilly yelling behind her. "Rose! Come back! It's just a student from Lobelia!"

Rose stopped. She turned around. "Lobelia?" she asked, walking back. She bit her lip as the figure groaned, standing up. "Heh, sorry 'bout that," Rose apologized, feeling more than a little embarrassed.

"So, your name is Rose?" the girl soothed, seeming to forget her pain. She took Rose's hand, telling her, "I'm Benio, from the Lobelia's Zuka Club. Obviously you have heard of us. But I also go by… Rose."

Lilly and Rose exchanged a glance, a single word popping into their heads: lesbian. And to make it worse, Rose had the same name as her. Rose turned back to Benio, slipping out of her grasp. "I don't feel comfortable in this situation," she mumbled, establishing some space.

Benio was not one to give up, though. She glided over to the two, telling them, "Maidens, I would never wish to ever make you feel uncomfortable. I was only being a slave to my heart, for it cannot resist your obvious beauty, charm, and strength."

Rose and Lilly shot each other a sideways glance. They were unmoved. Lilly thought out loud, "You remind me of Tamaki."

Before Benio could exclaim that the twins were being dragged into the Host Club as well, the other members of the Zuka Club had appeared, running over to her. "Benio, you certainly have quite an eye for fair beauties," the taller one cooed, looking at the twins. She added, "You may call me Silverbell."

The shorter was louder, telling them, "I go by Daisy. Wow, what are the odds of finding pretty twins?"

"Oh god, now there's three of them," Rose whispered just low enough so only Lilly could hear. "We have to escape while we still can."

"I'll create a diversion, while you-" But before Lilly could draw out a quick plan, the Host Club had spotted them.

Kaoru ran over, taking Lilly's hand in his own. This seemed to make the Zuka Club unhappy. Benio dramatically sighed, "OH! The Host Club has taken another maiden who could've done so well at Lobelia."

"I see you've met the Zuka Club," Kaoru whispered, Hikaru standing beside him.

The rest of the Host Club was there in a flash, and the second the Zuka Club saw Haruhi, they immediately began cooing at how beautiful the three girls were, and how they simply must come back with them after the school festival to Lobelia. Daisy had Haruhi, Silverbell was examining Lilly, and Rose was being awed at by… Rose.

"Miss Rose, if you would be so kind as to," Tamaki began, but stopped cold. Rose Gengara gave him a look that said, 'Yeah, I know.'

Benio gave Tamaki an uppercut to his jaw, sending him flying, while still holding onto Rose. "How dare you try to abduct two more lovely young ladies into your horrendous group?!" she yelled, Rose trying to slip out of her grasp.

Lilly managed to pull out of Silverbell's glomp and quickly scurried over to Kaoru, who took her hand again. Silverbell made a horrified face. "These boys have already brainwashed them!" she exclaimed, unable to register the fact that this 'perfect maiden' was holding hands with Host Club scum.

Benio sighed. "Then perhaps the damage is done."

"Not if we get them enrolled as fast as we possibly can!" Daisy exclaimed, hitting a dramatic pose, allowing Haruhi to escape. The only one left who was still being held captive by Benio was Rose.

"ENROLLING?" Rose was now ticked off, and as you have previously learned, you do _not_ want to tick her off. She shoved both of her elbows into Benio's ribs, breaking free of her grasp. Of course, she also managed to stumble right into Hikaru's bare chest thanks to their beach cosplay. After trying to hide her furious blush, she yelled at Benio, "Look, we are _not_, and I repeat, _NOT_ going to be abducted into a school we know nothing about!"

The Zuka Club froze. Benio sighed, "I was correct. Oh the horror, they've even managed to completely change this beloved lady into a violent tomboy!"

Lilly chuckled, amused. "Oh, bad choice of words, BIG TIME."

Rose had had it. She was fuming now, screaming, "THEY DIDN'T CHANGE A DAMN THING ABOUT ME! SO IF YOU DON'T LIKE THE WAY I AM THEN LEAVE MY SISTER AND ME ALONE!"

Benio, Silverbell, and Daisy stood there, stunned. However, Benio was quick to recover, denying everything and yelling back, "We won't take no for an answer. We'll be back tomorrow for your answer!"

Rose cast them one final glare, and turned back to the Host Club, who was once again starting to fear her a bit. "So, that was the Zuka Club?" she asked nonchalantly, her demon side seeming to withdraw back inside her.

Kyoya pushed up his glasses. "Yes. They've been trying to persuade Haruhi to join as well."

Hikaru asked Rose, "You're not actually considering going, are you?"

"Are you trying to be stupid? Of course not!"

"Then we have nothing else to say," Kyoya concluded, the club already heading back to their customers.

Lilly took her hand out of Kaoru's, yelling, "Hold it!" She put her right hand on her hip, letting Rose intertwine her left hand so that they formed a chain.

They told them in complete harmony, "From the looks of what we've just seen, it seems that the Zuka Club has caused you more trouble than necessary. Don't you think it's time for a little revenge, Gengara style?"

* * *

Technically, Haruhi and Tamaki hadn't said yes, along with Kyoya, Mori, and Hunny, but they were somehow dragged into it. Although Tamaki had to admit, it would require one of his many not-so-secret weaknesses, disguises.

"Alright," Lilly told them, examining each host quickly. "Time for Step A. Haruhi, we have found that the Zuka Club is currently in the inner courtyard. If you'll please follow me to meet them, and Hunny, come as well to, and get the camera ready."

Following orders Haruhi stood up, not a huge fan of the plan. Tamaki was, though. She had been forced to wear a pink and white sundress, and a wig with long, brown hair. Her makeup was done perfectly, and she was a vision from above. Rose made a mental note that Hikaru seemed please with his work, judging from the fact that a bit of drool was making its way out of his mouth.

"Come on, lover boy," Rose growled, Mori and her already heading out the door, "It's our job to seal off the courtyard so no fangirls get in or see." She started off at a sprint, Mori easily catching up to her, and Hikaru lagging slightly behind.

Hikaru had called in some construction workers as they sealed off the outer exits, the Zuka Club apparently not noticing. After the workers came in, they started faking some minor construction, and the three changed.

Mori had on a gray suit and glasses, and he was solemnly standing near a group of workers who were 'taking a break'. Hikaru had on a jacket and tie, and he was watching some workers taping off the entrances. He also wore sports sunglasses to hide his eyes.

Rose stepped outside, not pleased with what Kaoru had chosen for her. It was a tan jacket and white ruffle blouse, with a tan business skirt that went to her knees, and heels. She also wore glasses, making her look mature. Her hair was in a bun with two curled pieces of hair hanging out on either side of her face. Hikaru stared in shock, Rose growling.

She was holding a clipboard, and she managed to stomp over while wearing heels to where Lilly was hiding behind a bush in the courtyard. Through the tape, Rose whispered, "All clear."

Lilly nodded, pleased with Kaoru's choices of disguises. She shared a nod with Hunny, who was beside her in the shrub, and signaled for Haruhi to walk out. After Haruhi was out of the bush, Lilly yelled, "Hey! Look! It's Haruhi Fujioka wearing a DRESS!"

The Zuka Club immediately turned, each hugging her and cooing. "Now," Lilly whispered, Hunny taking a few snapshots.

After a few minutes, Hikaru stepped in through the tape, yelling, "What are you four doing here?!"

Rose followed, with Mori hot on her heels. She gestured to the construction chaos outside. "Can't you tell this area is undergoing renovation?"

Hikaru added, "And now, we're ten minutes behind schedule!"

Rose looked up at him, her eyes looking up at his. "What shall we do about them?"

Perhaps it was the way the light caught her face just so, but Hikaru found himself thinking about how pretty she looked. Mori nudged him in the back, bringing him back to reality. _Damnit_, Hikaru thought, _Now's not the time_. "Ah… well…" he struggled to remember what he was supposed to say, a bit of a blush coming to his cheeks.

Mori saved him with, "We should notify their schools. This behavior is unacceptable."

"Quite. Are those Lobelia uniforms? My, my, they've certainly let me down. I always thought Lobelia girls were brought up in the nicest of manners," Rose sighed, aware that somewhere in her mind couldn't get an image of Hikaru in his disguise out of her head.

Benio bowed deeply, explaining, "We hadn't the faintest idea this was a construction site. We're deeply sorry for disrupting you."

"Very well," Hikaru recovered, looking stern. "We'll let you off with a warning."

As the Lobelia girls rushed off with Haruhi, Tamaki was waiting a few meters away to take her back. Quickly, Lilly and Hunny slipped out and ran to the Host Club, where Kyoya and Kaoru were waiting with a laptop ready.

After a few minutes of keeping up with the charade, the workers were dismissed and the tape was removed. Unfortunately, Tamaki gave the three fake business people no time to change, urging them to follow him back to the Host Club. Rose and Haruhi lagged behind, not allowed to run very fast thanks to their heels.

By the time they got there, Kaoru was already done with the photo. "Excellent," Lilly beamed, handing the finished project to Kyoya, "Now on to step two."

As the group began to prepare, Hikaru made a bold move, walking over to Rose, who was taking out her bun. He smirked. "So, did I make a good-looking business man?"

Hikaru was prepared to dodge, but was shocked when Rose just calmly looked up into his eyes. Before she could think, she had already told him, "Honestly, yes."

The two stood still, stunned. The silence grew, and finally Hikaru couldn't take it. He wasn't used to Rose complimenting him. He snapped, trying to hide his embarrassment, "What? No sarcasm?"

Rose smiled a bit, looking at him. She cocked her head to the side, thinking. "We're a lot alike, Hitachiin."

"How?"

"You show your emotions the same way that I do, with anger. But I'm tired of lying to myself for much longer." Rose thought about what she just said, and was a bit embarrassed herself, but she made no move to take the words back. She walked past him, but stopped halfway to the changing rooms where everyone else was. She told him, not looking back, "My walls are crumbling, Hikaru. Whether I like it or not, life will move on, and my heart is being taken with it. Maybe it's time your walls came down, too."

Hikaru stared after her, still shocked. He looked down, mumbling, "She must not have gotten enough sleep." When he looked up, she was already behind a curtain, changing into her next costume. He shrugged it off. She was probably messing with him, like she loved to do. He started to wonder why he didn't fight back more often. As he closed the curtain behind him, he thought, _Maybe it's because I don't want to fight her. Maybe it really is just my way of expressing strong emotions. Oh great, now I sound like Kaoru_.

* * *

Tamaki, Mori, and Kyoya were waiting in a spare closet, examining the equipment for a photo shoot. "I think this is going quite splendid," Tamaki commented, toying with a camera.

The other two said nothing, but waited for the Zuka Club to enter.

* * *

Hunny had dressed as a girl, but on his hat, he had a secret recorder. He approached the three Zuka Club members, who were being led by a disguised Lilly and Kaoru to the fake photo shoot 'for the newspaper'.

He approached them with a big smile, his eyes shining. "Excuse me, but are you Rose, Silverbell, and Daisy from the White Lilly Group?" he asked innocently.

"Why yes they are," Kaoru told him, peeking over at Lilly.

Lilly asked, "Is there something you need from them?"

Hunny's smile grew wider. "Well, I absolutely love the Zuka Club from Lobelia, and I was hoping to ask them a question."

"Anything for you, young lady," Benio cooed.

"What do you think of the Host Club?"

The Zuka Club froze. Benio sighed, "Well, if you must know, we do think that their club is completely humiliating to women everywhere."

"They've even taken in a beautiful girl named Haruhi!" Daisy told him, trying to whisper to keep it a secret.

"Ah, yes, Haruhi," Silverbell chimed. "She truly is a diamond in the rough!"

Benio continued, "But I suppose in a twisted world, we would be cooing, 'Oh, the Host Club is simply splendid! I could just eat them up!'"

"Or something like, 'I absolutely love the twins' brotherly love act!'" Daisy added.

Silverbell told Hunny, "Yes, we could say that the Host Club is simply a dream. But we live in a real world, and women need to stand up and show their strengths against the stupidity of men. So we suggest you stay away from them."

Hunny beamed, running off. "Thank you!" He disappeared from view, heading back to the Host Club where Rose, Haruhi and Hikaru had actually changed into their normal clothes, and handed them the recording while they sat at a laptop.

* * *

"Perfecto!" Tamaki was taking his role as 'head photographer' very seriously. He was acting over the top and so passionate that you might think he was at an audition. He was snapping pictures from every random angle possible, not bothering to check whether the Zuka Club was actually in the shot.

Luckily, Kyoya and Mori were taking a few occasional shots, supplying them with some decent photos.

"Eh," Daisy was tugging at her shirt, "Why do we have to wear this humiliating shirt?" The three girls were wearing pink shirts with roses all over them that read 'I Love the Host Club'.

Kaoru supplied her with, "It's part of our story about what would've happened if you had decided to enjoy the Host Club."

Lilly added, "But it's a good thing you didn't get dragged into all that. You three truly are heroes to women everywhere." They were pleased by the compliment, and decided to stay.

"Stop tugging at your shirt!" Tamaki ordered, although it didn't matter seeing how he had only gotten the tops of their heads in that particular photo.

Kaoru beamed. "Great. Now, we need you to hold these." Mori shoved a cardboard box into each of the Lobelia girls' hands, filled with Host Club photo books, action figures, and even a few more 'I Love the Host Club' shirts.

After taking a few more photos, the 'photo shoot' was over, and they let the girls change back into their uniforms. The second they left, the rest of the group changed, carrying the cameras back to the Host Club where Hikaru was done with the recording.

"So, what exactly are you planning to do with all of this?" Kyoya asked, taking notes in his little black notebook.

The Gengara sisters shared an identical Cheshire grin on their faces, vaguely telling him, "Oh, you'll see in a few minutes."

Rose had left to run downstairs, wearing sunglasses and a hat to cover her hair and eyes. Lilly never answered any of the host's questions. After about five minutes, she flopped down on a couch, pulling out a laptop. "Let's watch the 'News From Tokyo' live broadcast online, shall we?"

The club raised their eyebrows, but split between the two laptops, opening up the broadcast. Their mouths hit the floor as Lilly smirked. On the screen, there was Rose outside of the school, wearing her sunglasses and hat, holding the recording and photos.

"So, we hear you have something to share with us today related to our special report on Lobelia's win at the school festival?"

Rose grinned. "Why yes, I do." She faced the camera, explaining, "As you know, Lobelia is a prestigious all-girls school. Only the best of the best may one day hope to join the White Lilly Group that is currently composed of a Ms. Rose, Silverbell, and Daisy as they go by. They say they stand for women's rights and fighting against men's poor treatment, but I have recently been following them, and found some shocking news."

"Care to tell us what it is?"

"It seems that the group they say they despise the most, the Host Club here at Ouran, they're actually… infatuated with it."

The Host Club was frozen, everything falling into place. Lilly smirked, knowing how much her twin loved to play it up. The reporter was intent on it now, focusing on every word that came out of her mouth.

"Do you have any evidence of this?"

"Actually, yes," she told him, holding up the photos. There was the one where the group had been glomping Haruhi, but that wasn't Haruhi in the center. Rose sighed, "It seems that they actually tried to kidnap Tamaki Suoh at some point." Yes, in the middle of their arms, was a photo shopped and very panicked-looking Tamaki.

The reporter gasped. "Can we get a close up on that?" The camera zoomed in, getting a crystal clear shot.

"That's not all," Rose continued, holding up the second photo of the Zuka Club wearing the 'I Love the Host Club' shirts, and holding the boxes of Host Club memorabilia. Rose frowned. "It seems that the dear White Lilly Group are really secret otakus."

"Amazing," the reporter breathed, still looking at the photos. The camera was zooming out, and the reporter added, "But we need a little more proof than just pictures, miss."

"Oh, it doesn't stop there." Rose whipped out the recorder, telling the audience, "I got an actual recording of the White Lilly Group talking in private about their love for all things Host Club."

Rose hit the play button, and sure enough, there was Benio's voice, cut to when she had said, "Oh, the Host Club is simply splendid! I could just eat them up!"

The recording kept playing, with Daisy's voice adding, "I absolutely love the twins' brotherly love act!"

Rose held up a finger, as there was a slight pause, until Silverbell chimed, "Yes, we could say that the Host Club is simply a dream."

The reporter shook his head. "Astonishing." He looked to the camera, telling the audience, "We'll dig deeper into this story next time, but for now, back to you, Jennie!"

Lilly smiled as she closed the laptop, waiting for Rose to come back up. Kaoru was sitting right next to her, laughing. "Dang, Lilly. That was something!" He burrowed his face into her hair, Lilly blushing slightly.

Hikaru was laughing as well. "We cut that recording perfectly!"

Haruhi raised an eyebrow. "Don't you think that was a little too elaborate?"

"NONSENSE!" Rose had sneaked up on Haruhi, causing her to jump. Rose laughed. She turned to the Host Club. "So, how was my performance?"

"Exquisite!" Tamaki gave her a thumbs up, signaling a job well done. He added, "But that's the only time we ever do something like that."

"Indeed. It wouldn't be a good idea to not let everyone know the Host Club was responsible for this," Kyoya mumbled, writing something down.

* * *

After some cleaning up, the Host Club began to leave for home, one by one and two by two, until there were only the Gengara sisters and Hitachiin brothers left. Lilly and Kaoru were saying goodbye, and surprisingly enough, Kaoru brought up the romantics and gently kissed her forehead before heading out the door, waiting for his brother. Lilly did the same, but once she saw that Rose and Hikaru were staring at each other intensely, she and Kaoru got the same idea and left, waiting at their limos.

"Ha! You blinked!" Perhaps they had gotten the wrong idea.

"I did not!"

"You are such a sore loser, Hikaru! You _**so**_ blinked. I win, you lose, and you have to buy me lunch for a week. End of story."

Hikaru crossed his arms. "You cheated."

"How the hell can you cheat at a staring contest?"

"I don't know, but I bet you would!"

The two angrily stared at each other, neither one giving in. It seemed that they had forgotten completely about what Rose said earlier, intent on winning the argument.

Rose crumbled a bit, staring into Hikaru's golden eyes. "Fine," she mumbled, stomping to the door, "You're such a baby, Hikaru."

Hikaru bit his lip. It looked like she was really mad at him. But why? It was just a staring contest. "Rose, wait," he grabbed her wrist before she headed out the door, both of their hearts jumping.

"Y-yeah?" Rose regained speaking ability after a long minute. She took back her hand.

Hikaru smirked, recovering, "I guess we could say you won… But I let you win."

"No you didn't," Rose teased.

"Yes I did!"

"Fine, just as long as you buy me lunch."

The two shared a quick smile before Rose turned back to leave, shaking it off. Right as she was about to turn the corner, she stopped, seeming to realize something very important. "Hey, Hikaru, about me saying you looked good in that disguise earlier…"

Hikaru stopped. He remembered everything; especially what she had told him afterward. "Yes?" It seemed important the way she was looking at him.

"Oh… never mind," she told him nonchalantly, turning to leave.

"What?!"

"Just forget about it."

Now his brain was demanding answers and coming up with questions. Was she going to take it back? Was she going to ask him something important? Was she trying to admit something? Then a thought crossed his head as she began to walk away: Was she doing this on purpose? "Hey, you weren't going to say anything! You just wanted to get me worried."

"You'll ne~ever kno~ow," Rose sang, running off.

So Hikaru was left there, standing in the hallway, wondering if she really was going to tell him something. And then all the reasons Hikaru hated her flooded back to him. "Damnit Rose, why do you like to push my buttons?!"

Hikaru ran off to his own limo, where his brother was waiting. Hikaru slumped, still fuming. But somehow, something inside of him was begging for more.

* * *

**Disclaimer: Wah, I don't own the Host Club! *sobs dramatically***

**So, Rose meets... Rose. Yeah, I realized that after I had read this part in the anime, and I thought, "Oh god. What would happen if Rose knew she shared a name with a weird lesbian?" I hope I portrayed the Zuka Club well enough, I wasn't really too sure if I had nailed it.**

**Yeah, Rose was pretty deep in this chapter. And then she got into an argument with Hikaru over a staring contest. :P Anyways, stay tuned, I have the perfect idea for the next chapter!**

**Reviews! It only takes half a minute to click a few buttons and type a few words about the story!  
**


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Requirements Are Overrated

"The Host Club will be holding a spring Masquerade Ball!"

Rose and Lilly's heads perked up, along with the rest of the Host Club. Tamaki was getting the meeting ready with a bang, standing in the center of the room with his arms outstretched. "Eh? You mean, like, dancing in a mask?" Rose asked, the idea still not pleasing to her.

"Of course!" Tamaki was already off, hitting a montage of dramatic poses straight out of a photo shoot, "What better way to welcome spring then behind the masks of winter?"

Rose raised an eyebrow. Lilly's brow furrowed. Haruhi groaned quietly to herself, not anticipating the event.

Hikaru and Kaoru were already concocting a few plans in their heads. "Of course, you'll come, right?" Kaoru asked Lilly, slinging his arm around her shoulders while she sat in a chair.

Lilly looked over to Rose, who was glaring at Hikaru, knowing something was up. "We get to choose what we wear, right?" Lilly asked.

"Of course, of course!" Hikaru was leaning against the table, shooing the thought away with his hands. "But you'll come, right?"

"And watch you host the entire time? Heh, not me! Lilly can go because of Kaoru, but I'm going to be stuck in a closet that locks from the outside again," Rose rose (A/N: No pun intended) from her chair, directing all her complaints to Hikaru. He winced a bit at the memory of the last ball.

Rose didn't stick around for an answer. "I'm going to head home," she grumbled, already out the door.

"What was that about?" Hikaru raised an eyebrow, staring at where Rose had just been. The rest of the Host Club was thinking more or less the same thing.

Lilly chuckled. "That," she pointed out, "Was Rose Gengara on only three hours of sleep."

* * *

Rose and Lilly were fast asleep in their room that night, dreaming away to what Saturday, or tomorrow, might hold. Rose had finally managed to get some more shut-eye, buried in her sheets, when she heard a very familiar ring tone. She groaned, looking over at the alarm clock on her nightstand. It was 5 in the morning. Someone was making a death wish if they were calling Rose at 5 A.M. when she had only a few hours of sleep the night before.

You see, Rose and Lilly may be similar, but one of their biggest differences was mornings. Neither of them wanted to get out of bed, but once Lilly threw her covers off and splashed her face with a bit of warm water, she was good to go for the rest of the morning.

Rose, however, shared a morning attitude not too different from the Shadow King and Hunny; only she tended to only snap when someone talked to her too much. Other than that, she was just grumbly and her mind was groggy.

Rose reached out her hand, fumbling around her nightstand to find her cell phone. Lilly groaned a bit in her sleep, pulling the sheets over her head. Rose searched a little faster, until she finally managed to feebly flip open the phone and hiss into the receiver, "This had better be pretty damn important if you're willing to wake me up before the sun's up on a Saturday!"

Rose's eyes widened a bit as the caller was revealed to her, seeing as how she was too tired to look at the Caller I.D. "Calm down, princess." She knew the voice all too well.

"Hikaru Hitachiin, I suggest you hang up now, or you'll have five days to live."

Hikaru winced, remembering Lilly's words. He was in the bathroom, trying not to disturb Kaoru. He told her truthfully, "I can't go to sleep."

"And…?" Rose wanted to speed this up so she could hang up already.

Hikaru sighed, "And I have something to get off my chest."

This would be the part that Rose shot up in bed, wondering why Hikaru would call her to talk to her about something that seemed to be so important. This would be the part where Hikaru poured his heart out, and they talked on and on for hours. This would be the part that Hikaru and Rose realized their true feelings and confessed, and then it would be the part where they meet somewhere in the afternoon to have the time of their lives.

But there were two key factors. One, this was Rose Gengara on below minimum sleep, and two, this was Hikaru Hitachiin, who wasn't good at 'pouring his heart out'. Rose hissed, "So why don't you try calling someone else?"

Hikaru sat on the bathroom sink counter, stunned. She was right. Why had he called her first? Normally, he would try to go back to sleep, maybe even wake up Kaoru, or call another host, but this time, he had chosen Rose. He kept telling himself it was to bug her, but it was more like he was trying to convince himself. He responded, snapping, "Well, why don't you just hang up?"

Rose was too sleepy to mumble a comeback, so she simply stated, "That's a good idea. Be prepared to die tomorrow for calling me at 5 in the damn morning." And with that she hung up, dropping her head back onto her pillow, letting the cell phone fall into the bed.

She told herself to ignore the cell phone ringing the first time Hikaru tried calling her back. It was obvious to her that he wanted to annoy her, although that was a wrong assumption. She told herself to ignore it again on the second and third time it rang. She made herself reject the call the fourth, fifth, and sixth time. She finally just turned her phone off and dropped it on the ground by the seventh attempt.

Rose smirked to herself, beginning to drift off. No more Hikaru Hitachiin to annoy her… Until the home phone rang.

She couldn't ignore it anymore, or Lilly would wake up. Rose grumbled as she picked it up, "Hikaru, here's a thought. Try calling your mom who's with our mom on the other side of the world. It's the afternoon there, so she'll actually talk to you."

"Eh, I don't really talk much to Mom."

Rose sat, slightly stunned at how calmly he said that, as if it were just a fact he had gotten used to. She quickly shook herself out of it. "Alright, I'll talk to you. You have five minutes while I go downstairs and make myself a pot of coffee, seeing as how it's already 6, and I won't be getting any more sleep, no thanks to you, to convince me I shouldn't hang up right now."

Rose began making her way down the stairs, the kitchen within sight as Hikaru explained, "It's about the Masquerade Ball."

Rose sighed, pulling out some instant coffee and a mug. "Look, I'm not going no matter how hard you try to convince me."

"That's not it." That definitely got Rose's attention. Hikaru took a deep breath, and told her, "After you left, Tamaki told us it's actually a ball for the entire school, the Host Club is just arranging it."

"So?"

"Dates are required."

"…"

"…"

"And you're calling me because…?"

"I have absolutely no idea what to do!"

Rose rubbed her temples, trying to get her brain to work. She poured herself a cup of coffee, taking a sip. "Okay," she asked him, "How serious is it?"

"How serious is what?"

"… Don't annoy me with yours stupidity in the morning if you want to live. The dates! Friendly dates, _date_ dates, what?"

"Oh, I have no idea. Tamaki barely gave us any information."

"…"

"Rose?"

"You're not helping, Hikaru…" she growled, her teeth grinding. She took a deep breath. "Well, who do you know that you could take as a friendly date?"

"Why do you think I called you?"

"Okay,,, What about Haruhi?"

"Now _you're_ being stupid. That would blow her secret to the school!"

"Sorry, but my brain can't work when a certain _someone_ has woken me up at 5," she mumbled, taking another sip of her coffee and taking out a granola bar for breakfast.

"Well, I guess I could take one of Mom's models for her teen line," Hikaru bit his lip. For some reason, his mind was praying that Rose would say no, that she would argue, just do anything. Hikaru wasn't planning on asking her, though…

"Well, sounds good." Hikaru's hear dropped in his chest. Rose sounded fully awake, and munching on a granola bar.

"Yeah, um… thanks."

"Hikaru?"

"Yeah?" His heart began to lift. Was she going to argue now? Or say something even more important?

"That doesn't mean you're off the hook for making me wake up early. I suggest you have an ambulance ready at all times."

* * *

"Perfection!" Tamaki was oohing and ahhing at how amazing the inner courtyard looked for the ball later that day. It was Monday, after school, and the Host Club was decorating for the school's Masquerade Ball… with the help of a few professional decorators, a highly skilled construction team, and the finest imported goods.

"Uh, is this their idea of 'just a little get together'?" the Gengara Twins mused, remembering Tamaki's words earlier. The courtyard was designed so it resembled a Victorian era garden (A/N: Google it), the pond and floral maze still intact.

Haruhi sighed, "Yes."

Kaoru walked over to Lilly, beaming. "Do you like it? Hikaru and I picked out the flowers and decided where to put them."

Lilly put on a small smile. "It looks beautiful."

Rose rolled her eyes. She looked around, asking, "Is there some sort of theme to it?" She knew the answer faster than Tamaki could make a lady faint.

"Of course!" Rose should've placed a bet on it. Tamaki came up to her, admiring a fountain. "It's done in the Victorian style to fit our Victorian costumes! Doesn't it look magnificent?"

Before Rose could open her mouth, Lilly elbowed her. Lilly told him, holding Kaoru's hand, "It's actually really nice."

Hikaru was watching from a distance. He kept looking at Rose, his mind a hurricane of thoughts. He didn't want to ask her to the ball, and yet he almost did… He wanted her to argue earlier, and yet he didn't… So many contradictions, so little time.

Kyoya looked up from some blueprints an architect was showing him, telling the hosts, "I need everyone to please tell me whom they are taking to the ball to make sure that we have no problems as far as that goes."

Rose grumbled, turning to head off to her limo, "Well, I can go home now, seeing as how I'm not even going."

Hikaru whipped it out faster than Kyoya could, surprising them all by yelling, "It's a school requirement!" He wanted Rose to come. Yes, he wanted her to come, but not for the reasons he told himself. Hikaru had a plan, a plan to bug the crap out of her, and he needed her there. But as I said before, that wasn't completely true…

Rose was frozen. For a second, the Host Club was afraid of what she might do. Lilly simply chuckled a bit to herself as her twin stomped back, grumbling, "Requirements are overrated."

"Yes, well, I shall be taking the young Miss Kimiko," Tamaki told them, Kyoya nodding and writing down a note. Miss Kimiko was a fellow classmate of theirs, and hadn't stopped gushing about how Tamaki had asked her.

Kaoru rolled his eyes. "Honestly, Kyoya, you must be blind if you can't tell I'm taking Lilly."

Lilly whispered into Kaoru's ear, "Why do you think he wears glasses?"

Kyoya moved on, Hunny telling him that he was taking one of his family friends and Mori was taking a female classmate of theirs.

Kyoya nodded, simply stating that he had managed to get Ayame to be his date. (A/N: Ayame is in the manga, if you hadn't read it, Google it along with an image of a Victorian garden)

Haruhi reminded him that he had forced her to take a classmate of hers called Yuki. She also silently remembered to herself all of Tamaki's complaints about how Haurhi shouldn't have a female date seeing as how she was a girl herself, and that she should just tell the school her secret already so that, and I quote, "Daddy can see his little girl truly blossom into the beautiful flower that she is inside _and_ outside.

The only one left was Hikaru. He was prepared. He stood up from his seat on a brick wall, calmly stating, "I'll be taking Masumi Ichigo, a model for my mom's teen line. I realized you've never seen or met her, so I've asked her to come."

Sure enough, a young model stepped out from the entrance to the courtyard from the school, and Rose felt a pang of jealousy stab at her heart. Masumi was tall and elegant, the kind of girl that even fellow models might be jealous of. She was so tall that in her low heels she was Hikaru's height, and she was curvy. Her long and silky ebony hair was cut in layers, and her emerald eyes popped and glowed. Her skin was ivory and fair, not a single blemish in sight. Her makeup was perfect, and her clothes flattering to say the least.

"Hello," her voice was light and charming, like a silver bell. Her smile was perfect and petite, making her look humble and honest, "I'm Masumi."

"No duh," Rose hissed to herself, feeling envy and rage at the same time.

Hikaru noticed Rose's looks, and smiled smugly to himself. Step 1 was a success. He motioned to a metal patio table and chair. "Why don't you take a seat, Masumi? We're finishing up anyway, and then we can give you a ride home so you can get ready."

Rose felt another rush of rage as Masumi took a graceful seat in the chair, her voice clear and ringing, "Thank you, Hikaru. But please, take your time. I'd hate to be a burden to you or any of your friends."

_'Beauty _and _manners? Next thing you know, she'll be able to fly_,' Rose thought in disgust. She didn't hide it on her face. She mentally shook her head clear of thoughts, and put on a small, fake smile. She approached Masumi. It was time for a bit of an interview.

"Hello," Masumi greeted politely, looking Rose in the eyes. "Do you happen to be a friend of Hikaru's?"

"Of sorts," Rose replied with an equally charming smile.

Masumi laughed, and it sounded like bells chiming. Rose felt another urge to hit her. "You must be Rose. Hikaru has talked about you."

Rose's ears perked. "Oh, really?"

"He told me that you're the one who gave him the advice to ask one of his mother's models to accompany him. Is that true?"

Rose thought back to their conversation. "I suppose."

Masumi gave her a grateful smile, her voice sincere, "I would like to extend my deepest thanks to you. I have been admiring Hikaru from afar for quite some time now, but without your help, he may have never even noticed me. I think there's really been a connection."

Rose felt her heart stop. A connection, huh? Rose felt another stab of envy shoot through her. She mentally shook it off. "So, is modeling your only career plan?" This girl had to have a fault.

"Oh, heavens no. I love modeling, but I can't do it forever. I've already applied for a few law schools in Japan, along with some highly regarded schools in America. You may have heard of them. Harvard, Duke, Yale, the likes. I hope to become either a lawyer or a doctor, but for now I'm focused on my high school education and having as much fun modeling as I can while I still can."

"How… lovely." Rose tried hard to keep the irritation from her voice.

"Will you be attending the ball this evening?" Masumi asked innocently.

Rose was about to spit out a no, when an idea made its way into her head. Her mouth was moving before she knew it, telling her, "Oh, absolutely. It's a school requirement, but I would come even if it wasn't."

"Really?!" the entire Host Club was now listening, but Hikaru had been the one to ask, coming to pick Masumi up.

Rose cast them a smile. She turned to the Shadow King, asking, "Dates are required?"

"Yes." Only Kyoya and Lilly knew what was going on in Rose's head.

Rose waved them off, starting the walk to her limo. "I'll see you there!" she yelled to them, not bothering to look over her shoulder.

Kaoru looked down at Lilly. "Care to explain your twin's sudden mood swing?"

"No." Before he could protest, Lilly gave him a quick peck on the cheek and ran off to join her sister.

Kyoya never looked up from his clipboard. He smiled smugly at the host's confused faces, mumbling, "This should prove to be one interesting night."

* * *

**Disclaimer: You know the drill.**

**Yay! I finally got this up! (does happy dance) We're now into double digits for chapters, baby!**

**A big thank you to all of you who have reviewed. I hope that all of you are liking how it's turning out, but new ideas are welcome!**

**So, obviously next shall be the ball itself! Stay tuned for the humor, drama, romance, and Host Club!  
**


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Of Romance, Envy, and Otakus Demanding a Show

Kaoru came to pick up Lilly promptly at seven. He had brought the limo, and Masumi and Hikaru were waiting inside as Kaoru waited patiently for Lilly to come down.

Kaoru was wearing a deep orange Victorian era suit, complete with ruffles and gold details, including golden buttons. He may have been rich, but he wasn't _that_ wasteful, so obviously it wasn't real gold.

Lilly had on a Victorian dress in a cream color also with golden-looking details. She opened up the door, allowing Kaoru to get a blast of music, with a female alto voice singing, "Hey soul sister! Ain't that mister, mister on the radio? Stereo? The way you move ain't fair, you know."

Lilly quickly shut the door, Kaoru trying to guess what the American lyrics were. He asked, "Was that Rose?"

"No," Lilly fibbed, already having a plan. But that came later. "I see you brought company."

Kaoru smiled, offering her his hand, which she gladly accepted. "You know I couldn't let Hikaru try and get Rose jealous all by himself."

Lilly laughed a bit, rolling her eyes. "Hikaru and Rose really are a lot like each other."

Kaoru asked, cocking his head, "And what does this have to do with the conversation?"

"An eye for an eye."

Kaoru slowly puzzled over it, finally reaching the conclusion as he slid into the limo next to Lilly. Kaoru looked over to Hikaru, sitting across from him, with Masumi by his side. Hikaru had a blue suit with silver details, and Masumi's was a deep burgundy and black. Kaoru raised an eyebrow, chuckling, "What, no horse-drawn carriage?"

They both laughed at the statement, remembering the Ouran Fair, Hikaru subconsciously rubbing his arm. Lilly raised an eyebrow, having no idea what they were laughing about. However, everyone stopped cold as they heard Masumi's joyous laughter. "Oh my, Kaoru, what a card!" Masumi breathed out between giggles.

Kaoru raised an eyebrow. Hikaru asked her, "Um, why is it funny?"

Masumi told him in a cutesy way, "Why are you asking me? You're the one laughing."

"Because it's a bit of an inside joke. You know, you had to be there."

"Oh. Well, I still thought it was funny."

Lilly rolled her eyes, Masumi trying to hide her blush and anxiousness. Lilly pulled out her cell phone, texting Rose the one true flaw of Little Miss Perfect. She was way too desperate to be liked, especially by Hikaru.

* * *

The group pulled on their masks as they stepped out of the limo, the courtyard even more beautiful in the starry night with candles.

Tamaki was the first to greet them, smiling and waving. The group moved on past to the dance floor, a waltz playing. Kaoru offered his hand to Lilly, who gladly accepted. They gracefully floated across the floor, having only eyes for each other and ignoring the envious looks from the other girls.

As the song drew to an end, Kaoru and Lilly took a seat inside a gazebo, watching the other dancers, including Masumi and Hikaru. To Kaoru's utter surprise, Lilly growled when Hikaru spun Masumi. "What, not too fond of Masumi?"

Lilly watched Masumi smiling and dancing, with utter disgust. "She's the one person keeping my sister from being happy."

"Same with Hikaru, but I'm not growling."

"Sorry," Lilly winced. Kaoru put his arm around her shoulder. She shook her head. "It's just that... Well, Rose is taking it harder than I expected. She made a plan to make him jealous, but..." Lilly bit her lip. Kaoru gave her a one-sided hug reassuringly. Lilly continued, "I woke up in the middle of the night and... Rose was crying her eyes out in her bed. She was listening to her Ipod, and she kept mumbling something like, 'Masumi's prettier, smarter, and more talented'. She thinks it's like Joey Brown all over again, and in a way she realized she loves Hikaru."

Kaoru nodded knowingly. He looked at Lilly, tears of pain for her twin forming in her eyes. He told her comfortingly, "Hikaru is _never_ going to hurt her. If we have to, we'll intervene, but we aren't stopping until those two realize exactly why they love each other."

Lilly perked up, smiling sadly. Her eyes widened, and she groaned. Before Kaoru could ask, she pointed towards the entrance to the courtyard, where Rose was entering, looking simply stunning in a red Victorian dress with silver details. A young charming boy was at her left, leading her down the stairs. "Come on Rose, don't use your pla-" Lilly stopped as everyone watched, shocked, when Rose hugged the boy her age and waved good bye as he ran back up the stairs.

Renge, the school's offical Host Club otaku, came up to Rose, along with most of the rest of the crowd. Lilly stood beside her. Renge oohed and ahhed at the simply drop dead gorgeous dress, then finally asked what was on everyone's mind. "Rose, why did your date leave?"

"Who, Andrew?" Rose played it up, the crowd listening. She dismissed the thought, "Oh no! Andrew is a close family friend who simply agreed to be my escort. You see, I checked with the school's chairman, and really the requirement is to bring an escort." The students stood there, stunned.

Lilly broke the silence, the crowd beginning to disperse, "You look amazing, sis!"

"You like? I thought you would. After all, it's your design!"

They hugged, Kaoru feeling like a third wheel. He cleared his throat, asking Lilly if she would like to dance again. She gladly accepted, bidding a quick farewell to Rose. They began to waltz, Masumi and Hikaru beside them. Rose sat, all alone at a table, feeling miserable. Masumi frowned. "Is she all right? She should be happy, after all, it is a party."

Lilly gave her a cold look. "For your information, Masumi, she's not okay. This is the anniversary of when she ran away."

Hikaru's eyes widened. He looked over to Rose, realizing that her eyes were beginning to sparkle with tears. Masumi raised an eyebrow. "She ran away? Quite wild."

Hikaru stopped dancing, letting go of Masumi. He gave her an offended look. "I'm sorry Masumi, but if you're going to talk like that about my friends, I can't be around you."

Masumi stood there, her mouth hanging open as Lilly, Kaoru, Hikaru, and the rest of the Host Club began to head towards Rose, overhearing Lilly from before.

"Are you sure you're all right, Rose?" Tamaki asked, giving her a sincere smile.

She wiped away a tear, not ready for them to see her weak side. "Allergies," she fibbed, looking at all the hosts and her twin. She faked a laugh, trying to reassure them. "It's so nice to know that you would all abandon your dates to see me, but you should go back and have fun. I'm fine, really."

Lilly had already taken her advice and had been talking to Renge. "Wouldn't it be lovely if the Host Club provided some entertainment?"

Renge took only a half second to think about it, yelling, "Yes! A marvelous idea! I could eat three bowls of rice with it!"

"Riiiiiight..." Lilly turned to the hosts, who were now listening. "You heard the lady, entertain. There's a stage over there. After all, you organized the ball."

The hosts all turned to Tamaki, the piano prodigy. "What?"

"Kyoya, how long will it take to get a piano down here?" Kaoru asked.

"We'll need a ten minute act."

Rose suggested, "Why not a martial arts demonstration by Hunny and Mori?"

"That's sounds like fun! Let's go, Takashi!" Rose raised an eyebrow as Hunny and Mori climbed onto the stage, heeled shoes, suits, and all.

"Eh, aren't they going to change?" Lilly asked, eying them make their way onto the stage, Hunny greeting the crowd.

Hikaru rolled his eyes. "They aren't the best in Japan for nothing."

The group watched in fascination with the crowd at the many kicks, punches, and flips performed by the two. Kyoya was in charge of his three bodyguards, hauling the piano out to the courtyard and waiting for Hunny and Mori to exit the stage, before hauling it up a few more agonizing steps.

Tamaki immediately followed, looking like a true gentleman, except for his mask, as he took a seat on the piano bench. He instantly began to play, the courtyard filling with the sweet music. Rose and Lilly closed their eyes, enjoying it for the first time. Kaoru smiled at Lilly's happy expression as she listened to Tamaki being swept away. As the song was drawn to an end, her eyes fluttered open, and without an explanation, she once again headed over to Renge, beginning to talk with her.

"That really was exquisite," Lilly commented, adding, "But you know, wouldn't it be nice for someone to sing with him?"

"YES! Tamaki accompanied by a lucky female student! I can already see it! Now, who to pick…"

"I've recently discovered that Rose is actually quite the singer. She's won quite a few awards at some competitions," Kyoya commented, reading from his little black notebook. He knew exactly where Lilly was going with this.

Rose was frozen. "Crap," she muttered under her breath. She gave Kyoya a death glare. "Stalker."

Lilly was already pushing her sister up to the stage, adding things like, "You'll love it!" and "You haven't sang for a crowd in a while!" Tamaki watched with sincere interest as Rose was dragged over to where he sat. Lilly already had a song picked out, which she whispered to Tamaki. She gave her twin one final push towards the microphone, a thumbs-up, and ran off, beaming to herself.

Tamaki began playing the soft and delicate notes, the tune familiar to Rose. She looked deathly pale as the song was nearing the vocals. She bit her lip, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. Hikaru kept wondering what the song was. It sounded familiar, American, but it was translated into Japanese.

The entire group listened, awed by Rose's beautiful alto/mezzo soprano voice (especially Hikaru) as she sang, her eyes still closed, "Say your sorry, that face of an angel comes out, just when you need it to."

The Host Club started to realize whom she was singing about. Rose kept singing, her eyes still closed in fear that she may open them to find tears, "As I pace, back and forth, all this time, cause I honestly believed in you."

Hikaru's eyes widened. He could understand why she looked so sad. "Holding on, the days drag on. Stupid girl, I should've known, I should've known."

Rose opened her eyes, and found that she wasn't crying, at least. Joey Brown. Hikaru grinded his teeth. If only he knew where that idiot was. "That I'm not a princess. This ain't a fairy tale. I'm not the one you'll sweep off her feet, lead her up the stairwell. This ain't Hollywood, this is a small town. I was a dreamer before you ever let me down. Now it's too late for you and your white horse… to come around."

The short piano solo began, Rose seeming to recover. She had a sort of determination in her eyes. Hikaru continued to watch, having only eyes for her.

Rose continued in her angelic voice, "Baby I was naïve, got lost in your eyes and never really had a chance." She seemed to get angry at this part, fitting it well, "My mistake, I didn't know to be in love, you had to fight to have the upper hand."

She turned sad again, "I had so many dreams about you and me. Happy endings, now I know. That I'm not a princess. This ain't a fairytale. I'm not the one you'll sweep off her feet, lead her up the stairwell. This ain't Hollywood, this is a small town. I was a dreamer before you ever let me down. Now it's too late for you and your white horse… to come around."

The piano whisked them off with its delicate notes at its solo. Lilly bit her lip. Rose had imagined this part for quite a while now. This was usually around the time she would start crying. Lilly looked over at the Host Club, watching, understanding. Her eyes rested on Hikaru. She smiled. "Be her prince, Hikaru," she whispered.

Kaoru looked down at her, taking his eyes off of the performance for a second. "Did you say something?"

"Nothing."

Hikaru watched as Rose seemed to get angry again, looking off to a distant vision, belting, "And there you are on your knees. Begging for forgiveness! Begging for me! Just like I always wanted, but I'm so sorry…"

Her determination returned, her smile showing in her voice, "Cause I'm not your princess, this ain't a fairytale. I'm gonna find someone, someday, who might actually treat me well! This is a big world! That was a small town. There in my rearview mirror disappearing now. And it's too late for you and your white horse… Now it's too late for you and your white horse… to catch me now.. Oh whoa, whoa, whoa-oh, try and catch me now! Oh… It's too late… to catch me now."

The school gave her a thunderous applause, bringing Rose back to reality. She blushed madly, scampering off the stage as quickly as her feet would allow her.

Lilly was beaming. She informed her twin and the Host Club, "Rose, that's the first time since Joey Brown that you've been able to sing that song without crying." Lilly added, winking, "Is it because you've already found 'somebody who might actually treat you well'…?"

Rose's blush grew redder by the second. "N-no!" she stammered, avoiding eye contact with Hikaru. She added, her face growing serious, "Can we not talk about him anymore? I just want to forget the whole thing. He's not worthy of my existence."

Lilly nodded. She turned to Kaoru. "Well, we better try to catch a few more dances before we have to head home."

Kaoru nodded. Before he left, he turned to his twin, winking, "Oh yeah, Hikaru? Kyoya managed to find a horse-drawn carriage, what are the odds? Just ask the Shadow King where it is, you might have fun… and bring Rose along."

"What? Why?" Rose and Hikaru asked at the same time. Their siblings and fellow hosts mentally palmed their foreheads. Could they be anymore oblivious?

Kyoya added coolly, "I suggest you use the carriage. We paid good money for it. It's by the last gazebo, and hurry. The horses are getting impatient."

Hikaru began rubbing his arm, biting his lip. He looked over to Rose, suddenly the idea fairly inviting to him. "I have nothing else to do, anyway. Care to join me?"

Rose blushed, growing sheepish. "Sure." As they began to walk off, she suddenly became her normal self again. "Wait, since when do you know how to drive a horse drawn carriage?"

Hikaru smiled, "It's a long story if you want to know the whole deal."

Rose returned his smile. "We've got time."

"KYAA!" Tamaki cooed, watching the two walk away. "How romantic! Two lost individuals, both broken, come together to heal by sharing a love!"

"It sickens me," Kyoya mumbled, snapping his notebook shut. Little did the others know, he had just checked off: 'Get Hikaru and Rose to use the carriage and talk.' The Shadow King really did have a heart, not to mention he always had a plan.

Hikaru tried being a gentleman by offering to help Rose into the passenger's seats, but she coldly refused and climbed onto where the driver sat. Hikaru shrugged, knowing there was no point in arguing, and hopped up, sitting beside her, taking the reigns. As the horses began to trot, he waited as Rose settled in, then began, "Well, it all started when we held our Ouran Fair…"

By the time Hikaru was finished, adding, "And the girls figured Haruhi was just cosplaying," he suddenly realized that Rose's head was on his shoulder. His cheeks were covered in a tomato red blush, as he focused on the path in front of him.

Rose was suddenly aware of this too, and abruptly sat up, straight as a stick. She cleared her throat, staring ahead as well. "I wonder if Lilly's having a good time right now."

"Come to think of it, you two aren't as close as I had imagined."

"Wow, how polite, Hikaru," Rose rolled her eyes, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

He snapped, "I'm just saying!"

Rose sighed, looking back to the horses. She told him, "Well, we're pretty close, considering we didn't know the other existed for the first five years of our lives."

"What?!"

"You heard me right. See, our parents argued a lot before we were born."

"About what?"

"Don't interrupt!" She answered his question anyway, "I don't know, everything. It was an arranged marriage, which they both hated, so they automatically tried to hate each other. I guess the final straw was when my mom got pregnant. The day after Lilly and I were born, our parents filed the divorce papers and presto! Dad got Lilly and Mom got me."

"Really? They were divorced?"

"Yeah, most people don't believe it now. You see, my mom took me to Italy for a few years, until she finally told me I had a twin sister when I was five. Well, first off, I was pissed; because that was a pretty big detail she forgot to tell me. So she gave me our dad's home phone number, and I called right away. He was in France, with Lilly. Lilly picked up, and we talked for hours right there and then. Turns out, Dad told her about me just a week ago, but was still too angry to give her a number."

"Wow."

"Yeah, wow. We talked for at least an hour everyday, trying to catch up on what we had missed for the first five years. It was really sad, because we missed out seeing each other on so many things. Finally, Mom and Dad agreed that we should all take a vacation in Canada for the summer. The first time I saw Lilly at the airport bathroom, the first thing I though was, 'I didn't know I had freckles…' Then we realized who we were and hugged and yelled and cried for a few minutes. We had such a great time that summer, that my parents agreed that they wouldn't keep us separated, and moved in together.

After a while, I guess they realized that they had no real reason to hate each other, and started getting to know each other. Then they realized they were really in love, and got back together. Lilly and I were the flower girls, of course. Ever since then, we've been moving around a lot, until we finally moved here. My parents finally decided they needed to settle down, and you know the rest."

Hikaru sat there, taking it all in. What if he hadn't met Kaoru until he was five? That was unimaginable. "So, you ready to forget you-know-who?"

"More than ready."

"Good. Because if I ever see that bastard, he'll be getting a little piece of my mind!"

Rose laughed, surprisingly, but Hikaru smiled. "C'mon, that's my job!"

They rode on in silence for a few minutes, content on just sitting next to each other. Rose was leaning against Hikaru, admiring the sky. "The moon is beautiful."

Hikaru looked up to the sky, a full moon shining brightly. _'Not as beautiful as you look,'_ he thought truthfully, watching Rose's happy face. He loved seeing that smile.

"What're you looking at?"

Hikaru blushed, turning back to the path, mumbling, "Nothing."

Rose looked down at her feet, smiling to herself. Hikaru Hitachiin had been staring at her. For some reason, the fact made her giddy and full of joy. But why?

"It's getting late. We better head back," Hikaru commented.

Rose sighed. "I wish we could stay like this a little longer." Hikaru and her eyes grew wide. Rose clamped her hand over her mouth, thinking, _'Crap, did I just let that slip out?!'_

Hikaru stuttered, "Y-yeah. The night sure is nice… it's supposed to be the warmest weather we get until after Valentines Day next week."

Rose was thankful for the bluff. "Oh yeah… But, um, this was nice, just talking without feeling like we had to kill each other."

"Hey, that's a first!" They both laughed, watching each other's smiles.

This time when Hikaru offered his hand, Rose accepted it, both of them getting butterflies in their stomach as they held hands. It was over as soon as it began, their siblings walking over, ready to head home.

As the two pairs of twins slid into their limos, Kaoru and Lilly asked their mirror images, "So, did you have a good time?"

Both Hikaru and Rose smiled, remembering the carriage ride along with the rest of the night, mumbling, "Yup."

The Host Club and Gengara sisters couldn't help but feel like they had forgotten something… or rather, _someone_. Masumi stood in the cold, mumbling, "Damn Rose, stealing away my Hikaru. She doesn't know how lucky she is. Where's Hikaru? He was supposed to give me a ride home. Boy, it's getting chilly…"

* * *

**Disclaimer: I don't own OHSHC, or White Horse by Taylor Swift. It's a wonderful and beautiful song, and if you can, listen to it, because it really describes how Rose felt. But she's better know, thanks to a certain twin... ;P**

**Bwahaha! Poor Masumi! XD Honestly though, I don't pity her...**

**So, yeah, you know a little more about the Gengara sisters past, and stoof........ that's all I got o3o**

**I'm already working on the next chapter, which will hopefully be done sometime soon. Reviews, please, they help me keep going and all that crud! Until next time**

**(P.S. for those of you who are wondering, Masumi did not die a slow, cold, and lonely death.)  
**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Music, Love, and Snow in the Air

The next few days after the Masquerade were relatively quiet and normal, the most exciting event being Kaoru meeting Lilly's parents formally. Luckily, he made a good impression, so he wouldn't be having any talks with a protective dad…

Hikaru and Rose had become a little closer, but still had daily arguments. It became routine, and as soon as the Host Club realized Rose wasn't about to hurt Hikaru, they let them be.

Rumors and whispers were now spreading around the school like wildfire of Rose's singing ability. They were all in awe at how gentle, yet powerful the girl's voice had been, and now they saw Lilly's artwork hung up in the school's hallways, adding to the whispers.

One day, as the Host Club was closing up shop, Tamaki shoved a colorful flyer in Rose's face. "Rose, how would you like to show the world your singing ability?" he asked cheerily, feeling proud of his idea.

"Eh? A Broadway singing competition?" Rose took the flyer, slightly interested. She skimmed through it, reading some of the basic requirements.

Lilly peered over her shoulder, adding, "You know, it's been a while since you sang in a competition, Rose. What was it… a year?"

Haruhi smiled at her. "You really seem to enjoy it. Maybe you should get back to it." Rose smiled back.

"Well, I suppose I could try…"

"Excellent! The Host Club will be there to support you!" Tamaki proclaimed, without any permission from the other members.

Hikaru raised an eyebrow. "Broadway? That doesn't seem like your kind of thing, Rose."

She snapped, "You shouldn't be talking, Mr. Fake Incestual Homosexual."

The entire club seemed to roll their eyes. "Here we go again," Haruhi mumbled, returning to her cleaning. Kaoru and Lilly had already seated themselves on a couch to watch, sharing popcorn that seemed to come out of nowhere.

"That's completely different!"

"How? It's all acting!"

"For two different reasons."

"Well, I can't argue with that. After all, mine is actually a good reason, unlike yours."

"What's so bad about bringing happiness to the girls?"

This continued for a minute until Kyoya cleared his throat. "Exactly what kind of song did you have in mind, Rose?"

She thought for a bit. "Well, I'm not sure. But I like to look around for some inspiration." She stuffed the flyer into her messenger bag, looking up at Lilly. "Ready to go?" Rose then raised a brow. "And where did you get the popcorn?"

"Oh, Kaoru and I bring some in case you and Hikaru have an especially interesting fight. Now let's go." Lilly gave a peck on the cheek to Kaoru, then walked off with Rose, waving goodbye to the members.

Hunny was eating cake. He suddenly commented, "I wonder if Lilly will get jealous of how much candy Kao gets tomorrow."

Kaoru froze. Crap, Valentine's Day! He had to get Lilly something, but Hunny brought up something more important… But what was he supposed to do? He couldn't just tell everyone he was off limits. He sighed. It would work out. It always did.

"Hikaru, will you be getting Rose anything?" Tamaki asked, excited to see what was going on with his new favorite pair.

Hikaru's brow furrowed. "What are you talking about, Tono?"

Haruhi mumbled, "That would be a no, then."

The hosts began to leave, until Hikaru was the only one left with Kyoya. He rushed to stuff his things into his bag, not bothering to make sure anything was organized. His eyes caught something on the couch, as Kaoru walked over to him, growing impatient.

"What's the hold up?"

"I think Rose left her ITouch," Hikaru lifted up the music player with a black cover with artsy red roses all over it.

Kyoya looked at his watch, getting ready to lock the room up. "Just give it to her tonight or tomorrow," he mumbled, ushering them out. Kyoya turned the key sideways, hearing a click. He gave the twins one final look while telling them, "Just make sure it gets back to her soon and in one piece." With that he left, leaving Hikaru and Kaoru alone in the hallway.

Hikaru rolled his eyes. He had a singer's Ipod, her source of inspiration and true feelings. How was he not supposed to explore that? As soon as he slid into his limo, it turned out he needed a password. "Hey Kao, what kind of password would Rose have for an ITouch?"

"How should I know?"

"You're supposed to be the twin who understands everyone!"

"There's a difference between understanding and _hacking_."

"Hacking! Of course!"

Instead of a normal scolding, Kaoru rolled his eyes, mumbling, "Took you long enough. After all, we have the tech skills of our dad..."

After a bit of messing around with it, Hikaru managed to unlock it just as the twins reached their room. He automatically went to the music, and found that Rose had a few different files based on different things. Some of them were for singing competitions, another for inspiration, and one for...

Hikaru sat on his bed, the ITouch in his hand, an ear bud in his ear, his eyes so big and wide that they may pop out at any moment.

"Something wrong, Hika?"

* * *

Rose sighed as she closed her science textbook, putting away her pencil. "Lilly, care to explain to me how a teacher thinks we can write a three paragraph essay about something they make us read in the same night and turn it in the very next day?"

"Teachers can be pretty stupid sometimes," Lilly agreed. She was on her bed, finishing painting Kaoru's Valentine's Day present.

Rose fell back onto her bed, letting another sigh escape her lips. "Well, time for some relaxing," she mumbled, reaching into her blazer's pocket. She felt around, her eyes growing big.

Lilly looked over, seeing Rose's panicked expression as she began to rummage through her bag. "Something wrong?"

"My ITouch. I can't find my ITouch!"

Lilly watched in understanding. "Isn't it always in your pocket?"

"Yeah! Someone must've taken it!" Rose suddenly dropped her search, anger flickering across her face. "Hikaru!"

"You can't know for sure that it was Hikaru."

"..."

"Yeah, it was probably Hikaru. But hey, it's not like you had anything that would be embarrassing for him to see..."

Rose laughed nervously. "Heh, about that..."

* * *

Kaoru couldn't help but start laughing at his brother's adorable but surprised expression. "Well, what more proof do you need that she loves you?"

_She created a whole file of songs... That remind her of me_, Hikaru thought in astonishment. It was just so... unexpected for him. He hesitantly clicked on it, scrolling through the songs. Hot, by Avril Lavigne. He began to listen to it, his eyes widening. It was supposed to be about him, and part of the lyrics were, "I wanna drive you into the corner. And kiss you without a sound."

He tried another one. This one was called Teardrops on My Guitar by Taylor Swift. One of the most notable lines was, "The only one who's got enough of me to break my heart."

As Hikaru searched more and more songs, he realized that most of them were... _love_ songs. What was more surprising for him was the fact that most of them could work for him describing Rose. He slowly but surely worked his way through the songs, finally finishing the last one. He set the ITouch down, looking over at Kaoru, who was signing a card.

"You should call up Rose, ask her when she wants to get her ITouch. Maybe you could do something with her, since I'm treating Lilly to dinner," Kaoru mumbled, feeling his brother's stare. Hikaru meekly nodded, pulling out his cell phone. Kaoru added, "So, did you learn anything new about the Italian sister?" Hikaru had told him that the Gengara sisters had just recently known each other, so Kaoru asked Lilly to fill in the rest.

"... You could say that..." Hikaru mumbled as he pressed a number on speed dial. Before Rose picked up, he quickly added, "And I'm definitely not going to be with her on Valentine's Day. People may get the wrong idea."

"But what if the wrong idea is actually the right one?"

"Kao, that doesn't make se- Oh, hey Rose."

Even from a few feet away, Kaoru could hear Rose distinctly scream, "HIKARU, YOU DIRTY THIEF! GIVE ME BACK MY ITOUCH!"

Hikaru snapped back, "I didn't steal it! I found it on the couch! I was just calling to ask you if you wanted to pick it up tomorrow."

"Sure, Hikaru," her voice was dripping with sarcasm, "That's it all right."

"Oh shut up, I can destroy it whenever I please."

"… You wouldn't…"

"Yes, I would."

"… Fine, when should I get it?"

"Tomorrow, Saturday, at the park, noon."

"That was oddly specific."

"Do you want your ITouch or not?"

"… Fine. Meet by the old oak tree?"

"Okay, see you then."

"Yup. Happy Early Valentine's Day you ITouch stealing bastard!"

"Rose, you little-!" But before Hikaru could spit out a curse, Rose had already hung up, laughing. She hadn't actually meant it; she just loved to push his buttons. Besides, she was still mad at the fact that he was probably finding his special file right about now…

"Well, looks like you have a date for Valentine's Day," Kaoru snuck up on his twin, making Hikaru jump.

"I-it's not a d-da-date," Hikaru mumbled, heading over to his bathroom to get ready for bed.

Kaoru chuckled. "Hikaru's so funny when he acts so oblivious."

* * *

Early the next morning, Lilly was already up and at it, putting together a special outfit. Rose's eyes fluttered open, glancing over at the alarm clock. 10:17. Well, it was early morning for Rose on a Saturday.

Rose sat up in her bed, her strawberry blond hair a bit of a mess. It was naturally wavy, and naturally needed to be brushed. She watched her sister with a smile, Lilly going through the walk-in closet, determination in her eyes.

Lilly would take out a pair of shoes, try and picture them with the outfit, scowl, and put them back. She continued this for another minute, until finally Rose made her presence aware, "Kaoru will love that when he takes you to dinner tonight, Lilly."

Lilly's head snapped up from where she was leaning down to pick up a pair of boots. She looked over to Rose, laughing. "Oh, this isn't for me. I've already picked out my outfit. It's on my bed." Rose looked over to her twin's cream and white colored bed from her spot on her black and red bed, and found she gasped.

It was clearly one of Lilly's designs, and it was stunning. It was a lavender dress with a halter-top. The fabric looked to be silk, and the skit went to about the knees. The belt was a white lace ribbon, and white high heel sandals and silver earrings finished it off. Rose thought to herself, _'When she takes over Mom's fashion business, she is _so _designing my premiere dress when I go on Broadway._'

Rose looked back to Lilly, who was now grinning. Rose looked over the outfit carefully. It was a red bubble jacket, with black faux fur lining the hood, blue skinny jeans with gold threading on the pockets, and black Uggs that went halfway to her knee. "Then who is that for?" Rose knew the answer, and she didn't like it.

"Well, it's Valentine's Day, and you have to look good for Hikaru…"

"No way."

Lilly frowned, faking a few tears and making her eyes big and wide. Rose was frozen. She couldn't say no to the puppy eyes. She could do them as well, but that didn't mean she was immune. Lilly sniffled. "B-bu-but, I just wanted to…" She trailed off, laying the outfit on Rose's bed and moping over to her own dress. "I just thought, that maybe…"

"All right! All right! I'll wear it," Rose grumbled, swiping the outfit into her hands and stomping over to her bathroom. Before she shut the door to get ready, Lilly slid in, smirking.

"I'm doing your hair and makeup."

Rose groaned. "That was a surprisingly quick recovery…"

"We're Gengara's, it's what we do!"

"All right, just… remember that Dad is home!"

"Please, I'm not trying to make you look provocative."

"Then why are you taking out the smoky eye shadow…?"

"I said provocative, not sexy."

* * *

Hikaru waited at the park, sitting on the bench. He scowled at nothing in particular, checking his phone. No new messages from Rose about if she was coming or not. The clock in his phone read 12:05. Normally, that would mean nothing for Hikaru, but the whispers and mumbles he kept hearing annoyed him. They were along the lines of: "Oh, look at that cute guy over there!" "Do you think he's waiting for his date?" "Does he even have a date?" "If I asked, do you think he'd go out with me, since it's Valentine's Day?"

Hikaru practiced every ounce of patience with the commoners. His coat was black and went to his knees, with shiny black buttons. His jeans were tucked into his black boots, his phone, wallet, and Rose's ITouch stuffed in a pocked. "Damn it Rose," he mumbled, breathing into his hands and rubbing them against each other for warmth. He spat, "Just hurry up already." His red scarf was wrapped around his neck snugly, but he was still becoming extremely cold.

It was quite possibly the chilliest weather they had gotten this winter. The weather station had even predicted snow. Hikaru had snickered at the T.V., ranting to Kaoru about how wrong those idiots were, and how it couldn't possibly be less than thirty degrees Fahrenheit after such warm weather at the Masquerade. Now, Hikaru was starting to wonder if he should've paid more attention to the forecast.

Just as he was about to call up his limo, he got a call from Rose, and answered it hurriedly. "Where the hell are you?! It's barely ten degrees out and I'm freezing my butt off waiting for you!"

Rose cringed. "I'm driving over there right now, Hikaru. I had to convince my dad that I wasn't going to a wild party or something."

"You mean you have a license?"

"Yeah, I'm seventeen, and my parents want us to be practical… or their definition of practical, anyway. Besides, it's Saturday, and Charles, our driver, has the day off."

"Wait, you had to convince your dad that… what?!"

Rose groaned. "You'll see. But I'll have you know, it's all Lilly's fault! And if you do anything, I swear I'll-"

"Okay, Rose, I get it. Just hurry up." Hikaru hung up his phone, looking back to the road. He tapped his foot impatiently, deciding to stand up and pace for a bit. If her own father had stopped her for an interrogation as to why she looked the way she looked, he would be in for a bit of a shock.

He watched as a red Porsche parked at the curb near where he was standing. The tinted windows made it impossible for him to see inside, but he could already tell whom it was. As Rose stepped out, a gasp was caught in Hikaru's throat. Her eyes were smoky and coy, her lips a deep red. She snarled, "I'm warning you, Hikaru…"

He waved the thought away, suddenly feeling like he should've done something more with his own appearance. "Never mind then, you came to get your ITouch, so-" he was cut off as a few snowflakes fell in between the two. They looked at each other, then looked up at the clouds, back at each other, and stared at the falling snow.

"Snow…" Rose mumbled, looking back up to where it was falling. A flake landed on her nose, and she tried to see it, making Hikaru laugh at how cute she looked.

"You act like you've never seen real snow before," he commented, as Rose watched, awe-struck, as the delicate snowflakes began to stick and cover the ground.

She half-smiled, "Well, that's because I haven't."

Hikaru gaped. "You've never seen real snow before?"

"Nope. Everywhere we lived, it's never snowed."

Hikaru smiled, his grin suddenly turning into a smirk. "Then you'll have to chase me through the snow to get your ITouch!" With that he took off, Rose huffing, but laughing soon afterwards, following after him as he dove into the woods.

_Hey, _

_Hey, hey,_

_Your lipstick stains._

_On the front lobe of my left side brains._

_I knew I wouldn't forget you,_

_And so I went and let you blow my mind._

Hikaru ran faster, looking back to see Rose catching up. Just as he thought he had lost her in the middle of a clearing, he bent over, catching his breath as the snow continued to fall. It had become more delicate, already covering a good three inches or so of the ground. Hikaru stood back up, suddenly realizing he was very lost, and looked around, trying to decipher where he was.

Suddenly, Rose tackled him from the side, yelling, "Just give me my ITouch, Hika!" They both landed on the ground, rolling for a bit in the snow, and began laughing. Finally they rolled separate ways, landing so that Rose was somewhat in Hikaru's arms, with Hikaru's head in her hair, both still giggling form the joy that snow and that they brought to each other.

It wasn't awkward, for some reason, and neither broke away. They were still giggly from before, and Hikaru held Rose loosely in his arms, smelling her hair. She smelled like sweet and fresh roses, how cliché. And yet, Hikaru wouldn't have traded it for anything in the world. Rose nestled a bit deeper into his arms, feeling comfortable and safe.

_Your sweet moonbeam,_

_The smell of you in every single dream I dream._

_I knew when we collided,_

_You're the one I have decided,_

_Who's one of my kind._

Rose and Hikaru finally became very wary of the somewhat intimate position they were in, and rolled away from each other, at an arm's length. "So, you're entering that competition? When is it?"

"Two weeks from now." Rose bit her lip.

"That's plenty of time."

"To you, maybe, but I only have two weeks to pick a song, practice, perfect it, find a costume, get it fitted, have it shipped, and not to mention get registered."

"Wow, that's more than I thought you had to do…"

"At least it's a singing only competition. It would be a nightmare if I had to choreograph it."

"You dance?" Hikaru asked, looking over to her.

"Yup. I've been training to become a triple threat, but my parents decided to pull me out of the program since we moved to Japan. My dad said if I do well at the competition, he'd let me get back to it."

"So, you're going to be on Broadway?"

"You know it!"

"What about your mom and dad's businesses?"

"Oh, Lilly is going to become head of Gengara Designs and Lines, and we have a cousin named Reese who'll take over the mechanics company. She's almost like a sister to us, in fact, she'll be moving to Japan with her dad this summer to become my dad's apprentice."

"Cool…" Hikaru wasn't sure what to say at the moment, so he let his Little Devil Type instincts take over. "But I don't believe you can dance," he smirked.

Rose rolled her eyes. "I can do a kick above my head, do a triple-pirouette in character shoes, the ones with the heels, and I have a split on both sides. And your saying I can't dance?"

"Well, I have no clue what half that stuff is, so I'm going to need some proof."

Rose huffed and tried to kick her right leg, while still laying down, and wearing jeans. It just barely made it past a 90-degree angle when she mumbled, "Screw this."

Hikaru laughed. "Ah, looks like I'm right for now."

Rose rolled over on her side to face him, her face growing coy. "I wouldn't be so sure if I were you," she told him seductively. Hikaru suddenly felt his face heat up, and he felt very warm. Rose's face cracked into a grin, and she began laughing, holding her sides, and rolling around in the snow, yelling, "You're so predictable, Hikaru!"

"H-hey, I thought you didn't like players!" He snapped, praying his blush wasn't too red.

Rose smiled at him. "I was messing with you, that's completely different." Against his will to appear mad at her, Hikaru shared her smile.

_Hey soul sister,_

_Ain't that Mr. Mister on the radio? Stereo?_

_The way you move ain't fair, you know!_

_Hey soul sister,_

_I don't want to miss a single thing you do…_

_Tonight._

They both looked up to the sky, the snow still falling. "You know, I think I might stay for a while before leaving," Rose decided sheepishly, not wanting to admit she wanted to stay with Hikaru.

Hikaru's blush grew a little bit, but he smiled. "Good."

"So, what are you going to do when you grow up and graduate college? You are going to college, right?"

"I'm not stupid, Rose, of course I'm getting a degree. I'm taking over Mom's fashion business with Kaoru when we're older. But for now, I'm just going with it and having fun with the Host Club and you… and your sister, too!" He blurted the last part desperately, mentally cursing how easy he could blush.

Rose laughed, a faint blush appearing on her cheeks. "I guess I'm just having fun with you and the others, too, for now."

Hikaru smiled. "So, you find a song for the competition yet?"

"Nope. But there's a lot of inspiration around me," Rose mumbled, silently adding in her mind, '_And you're one of my main sources._'

Hikaru began to remember all the times he had with her. "Hey, remember the first day we met?"

"How could I ever forget? I hated you more than I could possibly imagine. But we do have some fun times, I must admit…"

"…I don't think that was really hate…"

Rose blushed, suddenly getting his point. "Hika… I honestly can't argue with you."

_Hey,_

_Hey hey._

_Just in time,_

_I'm so glad you have a one-track mind, like me._

_You gave my life direction,_

_A game show love connection,_

_We can't deny._

Hikaru breathed out deeply. This was it. He faced her, pulling her closer to his chest. "Look, Rose, I can't get you off my mind."

Rose watched him, fondness in her eyes. "I can't get you off my mind, either."

"I always thought that it was because I hated you, but, I'm so confused."

"It's not hate, Hika, it never was."

"Then what's your hypothesis?"

"Ever hear of love at first sight?"

"Can't say I agree with it…"

Rose smiled, nestling into Hikaru's chest. "Well, neither did I, until you just made me realize that's exactly what happened."

Hikaru's breath hitched at Rose's warm body pressing against his. His heart beat loudly in his ears. His mind raced. That was it. Love, all along.

_I'm so obsessed._

_My heart is bound to beat right out of my untrimmed chest._

_I believe in you,_

_Like a virgin, you're Madonna,_

_And I'm always gonna wanna blow you mind._

"So, does this mean we're together, then?"

Rose suddenly got a very playful smirk on her face. She jumped up, beginning to bolt, "You have to chase me through the snow to be with me!" she mocked his voice, laughing.

Hikaru stood up, starting to sprint. "Not fair! You got a head start!"

"Do you want to be with me or not?" he could faintly hear her as she disappeared farther into the woods.

Hikaru shook his head, chuckling. "Why did I have to fall in love with such an athletic girl?" he mumbled, running after her.

_Hey soul sister,_

_Ain't that Mr. Mister on the radio? Stereo?_

_The way you move ain't fair, you know!_

_Hey soul sister,_

_I don't want to miss a single thing you do…_

_Tonight._

Finally Hikaru caught up to her, enveloping her in a hug so that she faced away from him. They laughed, smiling in each other's arms. Rose chuckled, "You know, a week ago I would've flipped you over."

Hikaru rolled his eyes. "What about now?" She smiled. Hikaru smiled. He loved that smile. She loved his smile.

She turned to him, her arms slung around his neck. She stood on her tiptoes, her face dangerously close to his. "Now, I would do this."

She leaned in, her mouth closing the gap. Hikaru stood, holding her, shocked for a minute, before kissing her back. Finally, for both of them, it felt… right, somehow. Like this was always meant to happen.

_The way you can't cut a rug._

_Watching you's the only drug I need._

_You're so gangster,_

_I'm so thug,_

_You're the only one I'm dreaming of._

_You see,_

_I can be myself now finally!_

_In fact there's nothing I can't be._

_I want the world to see you'll be…_

_With, me._

They both pulled away, realizing that they were receiving quite a few stares from the other people in the park. "We seem to be drawing a crowd," Rose mumbled, pulling away from the embrace.

Hikaru smirked. "Screw them. They're just jealous that a girl like you would fall in love with a guy like me."

Rose mock-gasped. "Hikaru Hitachiin, are you perhaps being… dare I say it? Romantic?"

Hikaru punched her arm playfully, Rose laughing. "C'mon, cut me some slack! I'm not exactly an expert at this! Unlike you."

"The bad boys I dated are dirt compared to you, Hikaru."

Hikaru clapped. "Not bad, not bad." He smirked. "But if we're going to be together, you're going to have to try a little bit harder."

Rose huffed, faking a dreary voice, "Fine, if I _have_ to, I'll put in some effort."

"Look at that! I've already completely changed you!"

Rose punched his arm the same way he punched hers, both of them laughing a bit. Rose grew a little serious. "I am who I am, Hikaru. If you're looking to change me, then don't be with me."

"Hey, as long as you stay the same Rose I love, then I'll be okay."

Rose grinned. She grabbed his hands. "You just said you loved me."

Hikaru shrugged. He was a guy, so he didn't see the point in this. He mocked, "Isn't that rushing this?"

Rose rolled her eyes. "Hikaru, we've been secretly in love and denying it to ourselves for _months_. I'm pretty sure we've been taking it a little too slow."

Hikaru put his arm around her shoulders, walking her back to her car. "So, have any plans?"

"None. Lilly's probably gone to meet Kaoru and give him her painting of them together."

"Then Kaoru's probably left to meet her and give her the locket he bought."

"He bought her a locket?"

"He even got it engraved. On the back, it reads: You aren't part of my world. You _are_ my world."

"Aww, Lilly will love that."

"Unfortunately, I got nothing for you."

"Well, we weren't exactly planning on getting together today, so that's acceptable…"

"Wait! I do have your ITouch!" Hikaru stood on the curb next to Rose's Porsche, pulling the music player out of his pocket and handing it to her. He smirked, "I know you'll love it."

Rose grinned, stashing it into the pocket of her jacket. She frowned. "Huh, guess that makes me the insensitive one without a gift." She unlocked the car, looking over to Hikaru. "Guess that means dinner is on me."

_Hey soul sister,_

_Ain't that Mr. Mister on the radio? Stereo?_

_The way you move ain't fair, you know!_

_Hey soul sister,_

_I don't want to miss a single thing you do tonight!_

_Hey soul sister,_

_I don't want to miss a single thing you do…_

_Tonight._

_Hey,_

_Hey hey._

_Tonight._

"Awesome, I'm starving!" Hikaru was already sliding into the passenger seat, Rose starting the car up. "We're we going?"

She laughed a bit to herself as she pulled out of the spot, "We're we had out first 'date'."

"Excellent, I'm in the mood for Italian. Onward, my slave!"

"Don't push it, Hikaru."

_Hey,_

_Hey hey…_

_Tonight.

* * *

_**Disclaimer: I don't own OHSHC or any of the songs. The lyrics in _italics_ are to the song Hey, Soul Sister, by Train.**

**Yes! My first song chapter! Tremble and kneel before it's awesomeness! XD**

**I am obsessed with this chapter! I think it turned out awesome, and finally Rose and Hikaru are together! So, yeah... Listen to Hey, Soul Sister and the other songs mentioned when Hikaru was listening to Rose's ITouch, because they really help you get the mood and feelings of the characters.**

**By the way, if you're still confused as to why Kaoru reffered to Rose as the "Italian sister", it's because when their parents divorced, their mum took Rose with her to live in Italy. Get it?... No? Okay...**

**I'm really proud of this story, and thank you to all my readers. Without you, this would've never been possible, and homework would be oh so boring :P  
**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Which Is Which?

Hikaru and Rose walked into class Monday morning, holding hands. Lilly and Kaoru looked at each other, smiling. "We so called it!"

Rose took a seat next to Lilly, rolling her eyes. "You and everyone else at this school."

Classes went on normally, until it was time for the Host Club to begin. Lilly realized she had forgotten her sketchbook in the classroom, so she ran back to get it, leaving Rose alone to wait for the hosts to get a break and talk to her.

"Oh, excuse me, Lilly?" The voice was fragile, and belonged to a girl in 2A. However, it was obviously directed to Rose. Rose's body stiffened.

"No, I'm Rose..." Getting confused for Lilly was something new entirely. People could always tell them apart by Lilly's freckles, but after the freckles disappeared, it was becoming a habit of correcting people.

The girl's eyes widened in silent fear. She bowed slightly, stuttering, "G-gomen, Rose. It's just that you're twins, and I..."

"It's fine," Rose fibbed, allowing the girl to relax slightly. It really did bug her a bit, but Rose pushed the nagging thoughts to the back of her head. "What is it you wanted to ask, Kana?"

"Oh, I was wondering if you and Hikaru...are..."

"Together? Most definitely." Perhaps Rose had spent too much time with the Host Club, or maybe she just didn't want to let the fangirl down, but she added, whispering, "But maybe secretly Kaoru is jealous." Kana squealed, running off to share her wild fantasies and scenarios with her fellow otakus.

"... Now that I notice it, people are always confusing you for Lilly." Rose looked up to see Hikaru standing over her. He added, a slight frown on his face, "Does it bug you?"

Rose bit her lip. "A tad. Does it bug the crap out of you that people confuse you for Kaoru?"

"... It's starting to..."

Rose smiled. She stood up, giving Hikaru a peck on the cheek. "It's okay to want to be an individual, Hikaru."

Hikaru blushed at her kissing him in front of the others, but thought about what she said. He mumbled, "Yeah, you're right..."

* * *

Lilly sat on her bed, drawing a bouquet of assorted flowers. She stopped, dropped her favorite pencil, and looked over to her twin, who was finishing a math problem. "Hey Rose, does it bug you that our boyfriends are in a Host Club?"

Rose stared at her twin, and without saying a word, held up her math homework, which featured a crudely drawn mini comic on the side, in which a customer of Hikaru's was starting to suffer Rose's wrath. "What was your first clue?"

Lilly shuddered. She returned to her drawing, asking, "And what about people confusing us?"

"... Can't say it bugs me too much, it's just so... new. It's strange to think that we would look like the exact same person if we didn't part our hair differently."

"Hey, I'm supposed to be the pensive one," Lilly teased, smiling to herself.

Rose smiled back. "Don't worry, I barely understand what I said anyway."

* * *

The entire class stared at the male student, stunned. Especially Haruhi, Lilly, and Rose. Rose bit her lip. "Hikaru.... You dyed your hair."

"Like it?" Hikaru smirked, twisting a now black lock of hair. He looked over to his twin, who had remained silent and thoughtful the entire time. "Kaoru helped me pick out the color," Hikaru explained, a ghost of a smile on his lips.

Lilly took her accustomed seat next to Kaoru. She half-smiled, "Sticking with your natural color?"

"Yeah," Kaoru nodded, perking up at the sight of her smiling.

"Is it permanent?" Haruhi asked, taking out her notebook.

Hikaru shook his head. "Just a month, to see what it's like for us to have people tell us apart easily."

Rose remained the last one standing. She stared at Hikaru, a sudden smile tugging at her lips. "It looks really good, Hika," she commented, finally taking a seat. She whispered, "Does this have to do with our little conversation yesterday?"

Hikaru shrugged. He whispered back, "We realized we weren't really being fair to everyone around us. We wanted them to tell us apart, but we didn't give them much to work with."

Rose chuckled, "Looks like I'll have to dye my hair black, too." Hikaru's eyes widened at the thought of it. "Kidding, kidding!" Rose assured him, ruffling his hair.

Hikaru smiled, taking out a pencil. He looked over to Kaoru, who was still a little upset about the decision. But with Lilly, he seemed to be a little more confident. Hikaru nudged his arm, "Ready for the first day of people being able to tell us apart?"

Kaoru smirked. "Bring it on."

* * *

It had been almost a week, and already people could easily address Hikaru or Kaoru individually, and still more people were confusing the Gengara Twins for each other.

Now it was Friday, just a few minutes before the Host Club would open, and Kyoya was addressing the entire club and the Gengara sisters. "As you know, fitness exams are Tuesday, so it would be wise to be on your guard for keeping Haruhi's secret." The Shadow King gave Rose and Lilly an extra look before continuing, "And obviously, Hikaru has dyed his hair. While this is perfectly fine, our profits are dropping, due to the lack of the 'Which One is Hikaru Game' and symmetrical love. Any suggestions?" The look Kyoya gave them all suggested that if they didn't come up with an idea fast, they would all be goners if he kept losing profits.

"I've got it!" Tamaki jumped up, his mind racing. Inserting a few dramatic poses, he suggested, "Now that Hikaru's hair color is different, we can buy him a customized wig to wear during hosting hours, which could-"

"Tamaki, we can't afford a custom wig. We're already dangerously close to going over our budget." Tamaki could now be found in his emo corner, with Haruhi somewhat trying to snap him out of it.

The room was silent, brainstorming, but coming up with nothing. Kyoya sighed, adjusting his glasses. "Well, it might be good to diversify our club, anyway."

Suddenly, Rose and Lilly got the same idea at the same time. They both walked up to either side of Kyoya, Rose repeating, "Diversity, huh?"

Lilly flashed him a mischievous grin. "Kyoya, we have an idea that will please _everybody_."

* * *

"Let's all play the 'Which One is Rose Game'!" Girls oohed and ahhed, boys smirking, thinking they were going to get it right.

"So, who would like to take a guess?" one twin smirked, both pulling down the green hats slightly.

"Although we must warn you," the other started.

Both hit a pose similar to the Hitachiin Twins' as they explained, "Already many guests have tried to tell us apart, but so far, none have succeeded."

"How about you, kind sir?" Twin A pointed to a young boy from 1B. She added, "Remember, we need your reasoning as well."

The boy sat in thought for a bit, looking between the identical girls. "Well, I think the one on the right is Rose, and the one on the left is Lilly."

The Gengara Twins crossed their arms in an x, mimicking a buzzer sound effect. "Aiiiingh! Wro~ong! But good try."

Hikaru and Kaoru sat glumly from their table, watching the whole scene unfold. Hikaru growled, "How do our girlfriends becoming hostesses solve the problem?"

"Simple," Kyoya replied, jotting something down in his mysterious book, "They offer the Little Devil Type for boys, along with the Tough and Artsy Types individually. The ladies also find it nice to talk to them for advice, or play their version of your guessing game. They've already increased our profits by 12%. I'm surprised I never thought of this."

Hunny beamed from where he was eating cake. "It looks like they're almost as popular as Tamaki, right Takashi?"

"Yeah." That caused the Hitachiin's jealousy to flare up, watching as their girlfriends proceeded to chatting with their customers.

Tamaki smiled, cooing, "They're my little prodigies!"

Haruhi rolled her eyes as she walked over to Rose and Lilly's table, the coffee tray in her hands. As she set the cups down, she asked, "So, is it any fun?"

Lilly nodded, explaining, "We actually get to be ourselves, so it makes the whole experience plenty of fun." She added, making her male customers blush, "And it also helps that we get to chat with these nice boys."

Rose was too busy telling a story to her customers, all of them laughing along with her as she finished, "So it turns out she wasn't pregnant, she was actually a he dressing up as a department store Santa, and the whole thing got us banned from the mall in Germany."

Kaoru groaned. "The suckish part is that when you think about it, it's only fair."

Hikaru mumbled, "Damn you, justice."

* * *

**Disclaimer: *Me playing Go Fish with Mori, since he only appeared once and said one word in the whole chapter (sweatdrop)***

**Mori: Have any claims to OCs?**

**Me: Yup.**

**Mori: Have the copyright claims to OHSHC?**

**Me: Nope, go fish. Those belong to Bisco Hatori. Besides, if I owned the series, there would be a season two, and Lilly and Rose would _sooo_ be in it.**

**Mori: ... Your turn...**

**Sorry for the long disclaimer, but I couldn't resist. :P Anyways, Hikaru dyed his hair, Rose and Lilly are now hostesses, and the fitness exams are Tuesday. Oh, the ideas I am getting! (insert evil face here) Mwahahahahaha!**

**So, yeah... Keep reading, and review!  
**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Developing

Haruhi Fujioka awoke to her alarm clock beeping, and sleepily managed to shut it off. After rubbing the last remains of sleep out of her eyes, she hopped out of bed, checked the time, and quickly made the bed. She sighed. Today was physical exams, but other than that, just another wacky day with the Host Club. Haruhi still couldn't get over:

Hikaru had dyed his hair.

Rose and Lilly were now hostesses.

Haruhi shook her head, heading over to her small drawer to throw on her school clothes before making breakfast. If Kyoya was willing to accept Rose and Lilly as female hosts, why did she have to pretend to be a boy still? Maybe they were already in too deep. Still, Haruhi would rather wear the boy's uniform than that big, yellow dress. Although, she had to admit, the uniform designed by Gengara Designs and Lines was at least fairly conventional.

Haruhi shook off her thoughts, sliding into the button down shirt, only to find that it was extremely snug. She frowned. _That's odd, this fit me just yesterday_, she thought, heading over to the small bathroom to check in the mirror. What she found made her freeze.

People had told her she would hit a growth spurt in the chest department, but she didn't think it would happen now, or so quickly. The once flat as a board girl would now need at least a B-cup, perhaps even a C. Haruhi bit her lip. What was she supposed to do?

She walked back to her room, since there was no need to tiptoe, seeing as how her dad had already left. She sighed as she took out the cell phone the Hitachiin Twins had given her, and scrolled through the contacts. Who was she supposed to call?

Tamaki? No way in hell was she calling that dramatic idiot. Hikaru and Kaoru? Perverts would not help at the moment. Hunny? That would be awkward. Mori? He wouldn't say much, anyway. Kyoya? She wasn't ready to face the Shadow King just yet. So the only ones left were…

"Hello?" Lilly picked up the first time it rang.

Haruhi took a deep breath out. "Lilly, it's Haruhi. I need you to come over to my apartment… It's a bit of an emergency."

Lilly could already tell it was an emergency, since Haruhi was actually asking for help. Her and Rose were flying out the door, their school bags in tow, deciding to drive themselves in their family's "conventional car", otherwise known as the Toyota.

Haruhi took a deep breath before she answered the knock and annoyed, "Let us in," from Rose, no doubt. As she opened the door, the twin girls gasped.

"Mamma mia," Rose breathed, "You grew overnight!"

"That's why I called," Haruhi told her bluntly, leading them inside. She was wearing the boy's uniform without the jacket, but it was no use, it obviously fit a little too snug for her curves.

"On the bright side," Lilly pointed out, "You told us you wanted to be a lawyer. I hear a good figure really finishes off that look."

Haruhi smiled a bit, remembering her dream. She waved away the thought. "There's no time for that. I can't go to school like this; everyone will know I'm a girl. What am I supposed to do?"

Rose and Lilly stood in thought for a bit as Haruhi took a bite of bread for breakfast. "Well," Rose pointed out, "There's nothing you _can_ do, Haruhi. It's human nature. We can't hide those curves."

Lilly looked around. She half-smiled at Haruhi, "Nice place, by the way. Back to the point, though. Sorry, but there's no way out of this one. The only way to do it is come clean to the whole school. But hey, you can be a hostess, still."

Rose whipped out her cell phone. "I'll have Maddie come by and drop off an extra uniform. Unless, you want to wear that dress…"

"I'm fine. Just as long as it fits." Haruhi sighed, lifting the teapot off the stove. She ushered the twin girls to sit, and she poured them all some hot tea as they waited. "Um, if you don't mind me asking," Haruhi blushed. What she was about to say was very strange and out of character for her, but for some reason, she wanted to know, "Could you tell me a little more about… being a girl?"

Lilly laughed softly. "Well, we've got a lifetime of knowledge. It's probably nothing different than what you already are, Haruhi."

Rose nodded. She added, "Yeah, you really shouldn't change. You'll be getting some looks from boys and all that, especially Tamaki, but other than that, you shouldn't change who you are."

"Oh, I know," Haruhi stated simply, taking a sip of tea. She sighed, "I'm just not sure how the Host Club will react."

Rose sighed. "They have to know before you go to school, Haruhi. Besides, Kyoya will know the best way to tell the school without creating any rumors."

"Rose is right. After you change, we might as well tell them to meet us at the walkway before school starts," Lilly told her sympathetically, finishing her cup of tea.

As Maddie rang the doorbell, Haruhi accepted the uniform, thanking her, and went to change. Rose and Lilly waited in anticipation as Haruhi stepped out of her room, wearing the uniform. She twisted around a bit, asking, "Does it fit all right?"

"Perfecto!" Rose and Lilly exclaimed at the same time. They added, "And we hope you're wearing the bra we included."

Haruhi nodded. "Don't worry, I'll wash it before I give it back to you-"

"Just keep it, Haruhi!" Lilly rolled her eyes. "You know, like a welcoming gift, or something."

Rose beamed. "Yup, welcome to high school as a girl, home to hormones, fashion, gossip, and dates."

Haruhi smiled sincerely at them. "Thanks you two. I don't know what I would do if I had to go through all of that with the other hosts."

"Now come on!" The girls dragged Haruhi out of the apartment by the wrists, picking up her schoolbag for her. "We already called the Host Club, and we shouldn't keep them waiting!"

Haruhi gulped. "What did you tell them?"

"Well, they sort of all hung up as soon as we said, 'We need you to meet us by the walkway in ten minutes, it's about Haruhi'."

Haruhi grimaced as she got into the backseat of the minivan. At least she wasn't riding in a limo.

* * *

"HARUHI?!"

"Well would you look at that, they got it right on the first guess," Rose and Lilly commented in harmony, walking on either side of Haruhi.

Tamaki stood, gaping. "My little daughter…"

Kyoya pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, but they couldn't cover his wide eyes. He cleared his throat, stating, "Well, it's obvious that you can't go on telling the school you're a boy. Good call on the uniform, Rose and Lilly. I'll assemble the students for a morning assembly, I'll call you all when it's time for you to be backstage."

"Mommy! But wait!" Tamaki shouted in vain, but Kyoya was already halfway inside the school, obviously heading towards the office.

Hunny cocked his head to the side. "Haruhi, are you going to be a hostess now?"

Haruhi shrugged. "It's the best way to pay off my debt."

Tamaki began going off in a corner, thinking about all the love confessions "his little daughter" would get, and how she still wasn't embracing her inner female, or something along those lines.

"Is he going to be all right?" Lilly asked, raising an eyebrow.

Kaoru rolled his eyes, ruffling her hair lightly, "Milord will never be 'all right'."

"True…"

Kyoya was already back, adjusting his glasses once more. "All of you, follow me to the auditorium." The walk was silent, each host wondering what Kyoya had in mind. As they reached the stage, Kyoya signaled for the hosts and hostesses to stay on the wings, except for Haruhi, who he directed to stand front and center behind the curtain.

"What is he up to?" the Hitachiin Twins mused at the same time, looking over at Haruhi. She didn't seem uncomfortable, but she was just as confused as they were.

Lilly's eyes suddenly widened. "I have a hunch…"

Before the others could begin to pester her, Kyoya could be heard over the murmurs of the student body on his microphone. "Welcome, I'm so glad all of you made it." Can anyone say rehearsed? He continued, "As you may know, I am Kyoya Ootori, vice-president of the Host Club. One of our hosts, Haruhi, has something he would like to share with you."

With that, the curtain slowly drew open, revealing gasps and the shocked faces of the students at Ouran. Haruhi stood there, beginning to fidget under the sudden attention. Kyoya left no time for rumors as he briskly explained, "Yes, Haruhi Fujioka, is, in fact, a female. However, let me explain why she has been hiding her gender."

And so Kyoya told them everything, however, he changed the part about forcing Haruhi to work for them and instead saying that Haruhi, being the hard-working, modest commoner she is, insisted that she must repay them herself.

As Kyoya concluded the shortened and edited version of the tale, he signaled for the hosts to step out. "Is there anything any of you would like to add?" Because I want this to look like you all actually helped in some way. The last part remained unheard, but from the quick look Kyoya shot them, the others on the stage knew exactly where he was going.

Tamaki immediately grabbed the microphone, explaining with passion, "We took in Haruhi as a host because we all realized she was a girl, but Haruhi didn't embrace her femininity. And so, we showed her the ropes, and she really took off from there!"

Haruhi grumbled to Rose and Lilly next to her, "He doesn't have to lie about the whole thing."

Lilly rolled her eyes at Tamaki, taking the microphone next (read as: stealing the microphone before Tamaki got started on a monologue) and telling the students, "Haruhi will now be a hostess, like my twin and I, in the Host Club, and serving boys. Don't feel uncomfortable about it."

Rose held out her hand, Lilly placing the device into her palm. Rose got right to it as she explained sternly to the students, "Now listen up. Haruhi may be a girl, but that does not, and I repeat, does _not_ change who she is. She's still the studious, hard working, blunt, and all around awesome girl that you've come to know and love. So treat her with respect, or you'll have to deal with not only me, but the entire Host Club as well."

Kyoya took the microphone one final time as he concluded, "That will be all. Please continue to your first period classes."

Haruhi sighed. At least it was quick. Rose and Lilly soon grabbed her wrists and exclaimed, "C'mon! We want to see the looks on those fangirls' faces as they realize they were lesbians for over a year!"

"Wait for us!" Hikaru and Kaoru followed them offstage, laughing.

Tamaki was left with Kyoya, Hunny, and Mori. A sob caught in his throat. "My little girl, all grown up…"

Kyoya sighed. He was such an idiot. Even Hunny and Mori silently agreed with the Shadow King.

Tamaki pondered, suddenly growing serious, "But, why do I feel so… angry and jealous when I think about other boys liking Haruhi?"

Hunny tugged at Tamaki's jacket, looking up at him with a small and sincere smile. "Tamaki, why do you think so?" Kyoya and Mori watched silently as Tamaki was caught off-guard.

"I-I… I understand, now…"

The three boys stiffened, their eyebrows raised. He had finally figured it out! He finally realized that he-

"I'm suffering from empty nest syndrome!"

Mori palmed his forehead, Hunny walked back to Mori, shaking his head, and Kyoya rolled his eyes, proceeding to get to class. Tamaki followed behind, cheery once more as he spouted, "Yes! That's it! My little girl is all grown up, and is independent, and I'm simply trying to explain the gap in my heart from her daughterly love, and my protectiveness of her!"

As the three other boys listened to Tamaki's monologue, they simultaneously thought, _What an idiot. Will he ever realize he loves her?

* * *

_

"Hitachiin Twins, if you'll follow me to get your chest measurements. You may use this curtain to change." The nurse was perky and cheery, the fangirls anxious and eager, Lilly amused, and Rose was just about ready to give one of the otakus an uppercut to the jaw.

"I swear, if one of them even thinks about-"

"Calm down, Rose. Physical exam day is quite popular among our fans," Kyoya explained, jotting down the turnout this year.

Rose grumbled, "Doesn't mean I have to like it."

Lilly and Haruhi raised an eyebrow at the same time as the girls began to squeal as the Hitachiins took their shirts off, mumbling, "What's wrong with the girls at this school?"

Rose was still fuming, watching the girls. "I swear, they know he's taken, and if they-" she was cut off as her gaze shifted to her now bare-chested and buff boyfriend with sparkles and roses all around him, her mouth falling open slightly with Lilly's. She suddenly felt something trickling down her nose… "Crap," she muttered as she clamped her hand over her nose, ignoring the "brotherly love" scene.

Lilly had the exact same problem, and both grumbled as they walked briskly past the Host Club, "We'll be a moment."

"Where are they going?" Hunny asked, blissfully unaware.

Kyoya replied simply before anyone else could say something awkward, "To get some tissues."

"Do they have runny noses?"

"You could say that…"

Hikaru and Kaoru had caught their girlfriends out of the corner of their eyes, and as they buttoned up their shirts once more, Rose and Lilly stood in front of them, leaning forward, pinching their noses with tissues that had faint stains of blood. Rose groaned, "You're never going to let us live this down, are you?"

Hikaru smirked as he ran a hand through his black hair. "Never."

"But that's what makes you two so cute," Kaoru added, chuckling at Lilly's deep blush.

Rose rolled her eyes, looking over to the crowd of girl's watching as Tamaki and Kyoya proceeded to take of their shirts as well. She growled, "The second my nose stops bleeding, those girls are getting a piece of my mind…"

Hikaru laughed as he pulled her into a half-hug. "Aw, my little Rose is jealous."

For the first time, Rose smiled at the teasing comment. Lilly shared her smile, knowing that even with nosebleeds, Rose and her were now truly happy.

* * *

**Disclaimer: 'Tis disclaimed.**

**Yawn, I'm tired... Not much to say, but yeah, Haruhi's now a girl, and nosebleeds! XD I couldn't resist. Cause I mean, if you're one of the twin's girlfriend, you're bound to get a nosebleed at some point, right? Review, and stay tuned!  
**


	15. Chapter 15

**So you have requested it, and so it shall be! Sorry this took so long to update, guys... TT_TT

* * *

**

Chapter 15

Performances

This was it. Today was the day. Rose nervously bit her lip and brought her knees to her chest, still sitting on her bed, her mind racing. Her red soffe shorts and black and red t-shirt were her pajamas, and she suddenly felt like keeping them on instead of changing into the costume.

Lilly peeked out of their master bathroom, already brushing her teeth. Rose still hadn't even had breakfast, and the Host Club would be over in an hour or so, forcing the Gengara Twins to take all of them at once in a limo. Haruhi had even agreed to come.

"Earth to Rose! Come in Rose!" Lilly watched, slightly amused as Rose's head snapped up, Lilly putting away the toothbrush. She sighed, "Come on Rose, don't tell me you're about to bail."

"I-I'm not," she stuttered, finally allowing herself to get off the bed, heading towards the door.

Lilly followed her, knowing that every day of a competition, Rose got too nervous to always think straight, and even ended up running into a wall a few times. This competition, though, was even more important. Lilly didn't understand it fully, but she made her best effort.

This was her twin's debut in Japan, her first impression on the theater biz. If she did well, she would be remembered. Also, their father and mother had decided that if she placed in the top three, they would allow her to enroll in a triple threat program, as long as her grades kept up.

"Rose?"

"Hm?"

"You need orange juice, not mustard."

"Oh, my bad."

Lilly chuckled to herself. She tried to comfort her sister. "You'll do fine. You've got the song memorized, and the costume looks great. Plus, the Host Club and I are all here for you."

"Uh-huh." Lilly sweat dropped. Rose hadn't heard a word she said.

Just as Rose was about to grab the costume and head downstairs, she got a call on her mobile. "Hello?"

"Hey, Rose."

"Hikaru!"

Lilly smiled. She grabbed the costume out of Rose's hands, making her way to the limo while Rose walked every so slowly down the stairs, immediately relieved at the chance to talk with her boyfriend. Lilly knew Rose needed someone to calm her down before the competition, since she had already caught on that Lilly just repeated the same phrases over and over again.

Rose smiled as Hikaru's voice told her on the other end, "We're on our way right now."

"That reminds me; why don't you all just ride in that same limo instead of riding with us?"

"Because then I wouldn't get to see you before the competition!"

"… I'm changing at the ballroom, Hika."

"Damn." Rose laughed. She had eagerly described the dress to Hikaru, but made a big point of making sure no one, and I mean, _no one_, but her and her twin saw it before she competed.

Just ten minutes later, and the Host Club was all settled in the limo, Tamaki excitedly chatting away and trying to pry the secret information out of Rose and Lilly. At this point, everyone but the Gengara Twins had no clue as to the costume, song, or anything else related to Rose's performance.

Although, after Haruhi became a girl (publicly) she had become a bit closer to the female twins, and had a slight hint as to the song. Lilly had teased that it was completely out of character for Rose, but Rose simply hammed it up and explained, "It's called _acting_, my dear twin!"

Now, though, Rose looked less like a ham and more like a very nervous turkey before Thanksgiving. She barely said a word as she silently shivered, Hikaru teasing her and reassuring that she would do great. The Host Club tried to cheer her up, but Lilly told them it was useless, and that, quote: "She's in Rose World, where you don't exist if she doesn't want you to."

As they parked, Rose sped off, concealing the costume, to get her number, change, and do her hair and makeup. Lilly rolled her eyes, looking back to the other hosts. "Okay, Rose will be entry #57, so we have some time to kill. Any ideas before we take our seats?"

There were none, although Hunny told her he was in the mood for some cake. Lilly shrugged, Hikaru and Kaoru dramatically pointing towards a plaza, "To the sweets shop!"

"It's this way," Haruhi explained. She rolled her eyes, already walking off in the opposite direction.

Upon entering the shop, Lilly walked over to the display cases, and immediately gasped, "No way!" clamping her hands over her mouth, her eyes widening. Thinking something was wrong, Kaoru rushed over to her, the others quickly following, only to find Lilly gasping at just another display.

"Um, Lilly… You okay?" Kaoru felt her forehead with the back of his palm, not sure what she was so worked up about. Without a word, Lilly whipped out her cell phone, pressing a number on speed dial, and brought the device to her ear.

"Hello, Rose?… Yeah, yeah, I know not to bug you, but-… Listen Rose, this is a breakthrough discovery! They have churros here!… I know, right? I never thought we'd find them!… Don't worry; I'm buying, like, twenty… Okay, break a leg!"

The entire club sweat-dropped, just staring at the strawberry blond girl. Lilly didn't seem to notice until after she had- as she had promised-purchased twenty or more churros. "What?"

Haruhi was the first to react, "Why are you so excited about those things?"

Lilly rolled her eyes, and mocked in a very matter-of-fact voice, "They happen to have a name, Haruhi. Churros are Mexican fried cinnamon dough sticks that Rose and I happen to love. And we had absolutely no idea they would actually be in Japan."

Kyoya raised an eyebrow, repeating, "Fried cinnamon dough sticks?"

"Uh-huh."

The club had no idea as to why anyone would be so excited about it, but Kaoru simply laughed it off, telling Lilly, "If you wanted to find these things so badly, why didn't you just tell me? I could've helped you."

Lilly looked up at him, mysteriously replying, "Oh, you'll find out soon enough."

* * *

After some arguing over what to buy, the Host Club finally settled down to nibble on their snacks. Kyoya had gotten nothing, and simply took out his laptop and typed away. Tamaki and Haruhi sat next to each other, and Tamaki made a big show of trying to give Haruhi his strawberries because he learned that she liked them. Haruhi deadpanned, "I have enough, Tamaki."

The group chatted and giggled, until Lilly checked her watch and dragged them back to the hotel ballroom the competition was in. She kept shushing them as they waited impatiently for Rose to come on, making comments about entries and listening.

There was one girl, who was rather plump, that sang about as off-key as a newborn penguin. The group grimaced as she kept trying to hit the soprano high-notes, the most popular and distinguished for a girl, and failed every time. "_Not on my castle on a cloud!_" she wailed, finally finishing.

"She's going to win." The Host Club turned towards Kyoya and Lilly, who had stated it at the same time.

Tamaki gasped, "How could you say that?"

Lilly sighed knowingly, explaining, "Rose is an alto or mezzo-soprano. That girl was a high soprano, and that's appreciated more."

"Not to mention, she's the daughter of one of the judges," Kyoya added, closing his laptop.

"Nepotism." Haruhi shook her head, then focusing back on the competition.

"Next up, entry #57! Rose Gemini Gengara!" The entire group stiffened, their eyes scanning the small stage.

Hikaru's mouth fell wide open. Rose looked absolutely stunning. Her makeup was fairly heavy, but girly, and not nearly as obvious as Haruhi's had been when she was dragged into doing a play for the Zuka Club. Her hair was curled and had a red bow in it, complimenting her red, strapless dress.

The dress itself was a silky bright red, with a black belt around the waist, tied in a big bow on Rose's right hip. The skirt of the dress was the same red as the top, and cut at her knees, swishing a bit as she walked towards the center, her microphone already in place by her mouth. There was a bit of black lace jutting out of the top and bottom of the dress.

Her shoes were red strappy heels, with the straps alternating between black and red. Her gloves went to her elbow, and made of the same red material as the dress, but with a shiny black bracelet with a rose on top on each wrist.

And just as Haruhi had expected, the song was a bit out of character for Rose, but still sounded amazing, and her acting made it look as natural as could be.

Rose opened her mouth, smiling, and began.

_I'm a girl_

_And by me_

_That's only great!_

_I am proud that_

_My silhouette is_

_Curvy._

_That I walk with _

_A sweet and _

_Girlish gait._

_With my hips kinda_

_Swivelly and swirly._

_I adore being_

_Dressed in something frilly._

_When my date comes to get me_

_At my place._

_Out I go with my Joe or John or Billy._

_Like a filly who is ready for_

_The race!_

_When I have a brand new_

_Hairdo._

_With my eyelashes all_

_In curls._

_I'd float as the clouds on_

_Air do!_

_I enjoy being a girl!_

_When men say I'm cute and_

_Funny._

_And my teeth aren't teeth,_

_But pearls._

_I just lap it up like_

_Honey!_

_I enjoy being a girl!_

_I flip when a fella sends me flowers._

_I drool over dresses made of lace._

_I talk on the telephone for hours!_

_With a pound and a half of cream upon my face._

_I'm strictly a female,_

_Female._

_And in my future I hope,_

_Will be._

_In the home of a brave and free male._

Rose hit the high note perfectly, unlike the girl before her.

_Who'll enjoy_

_Being a guy_

_Having a girl!_

_Like!_

_Me!_

Here the music was cut, and Rose finished in a fairly feminine pose. (A/N: Make it up.) The crowd cheered and clapped, and the judges looked pleased. Hikaru certainly was, at least.

He ran to greet her with the others, but allowed Lilly to congratulate her first. She was her twin, after all. Then he pulled her into a hug, laughing and smiling and telling her, "You did amazing, Rose!"

She blushed at the other's compliments, and after grabbing a jacket, they decided to head out to the hotel's café and have a quick snack before the awards ceremony.

Haruhi mused bluntly, "You were right. That song was oddly out of character for you."

Rose mock-gasped, her old self returning. "Haruhi, are you perhaps suggesting that I do not enjoy being a girl?"

"I'm just saying that it was incredibly girly."

"You know, I would punch you in the arm if I wasn't so strict about being a female, female."

The group hung around the café, Rose receiving quite a few compliments and praises, each time blushing and acting embarrassed. And much to Hikaru's discontent, she was attracting quite a few boys to stare at her from a distance. Hikaru hissed, "Don't those perverts have something better to do?"

Hunny, never one to look for the worst in people (unless he absolutely hated them) shrugged and told Hikaru while taking a huge bite out of an entire cake, "They're just impressed, Hikaru. Maybe they want to ask Rose a question."

"Yes, my daughter really shined tonight!"

Before Hikaru could make a further argument, Haruhi piped in, "It's about time for the awards to start."

The group rushed back to the ballroom, taking seats towards the back, just as the announcer began to award the Top 3. Rose bit her lip, and the others seemed to hold their breaths. "In third place… Entry #35!"

They applauded politely as the boy ran up to the stage, grabbing the trophy and shaking the announcer and judges' hands, thanking each one. After the boy began to run off, the MC continued, "And in second place is… Entry #57!"

Rose jumped off her seat, the others yelling and cheering their heads off, except for Kyoya and Mori, who applauded with a slight smile. Even Haruhi was shouting a bit, although a lot less than Hikaru, Kaoru, and Lilly.

"And first place, with a flawless score is… Entry #56!" As suspected, the plump judge's daughter won.

Haruhi shook her head as Rose came back, holding the silver trophy, mumbling, "Nepotism."

Rose laughed it off, too happy to care. She told them, "I'm back in the triple threat program!" She hugged her sister and Hikaru, smiling wider than thought possible.

As the gang packed up, Rose received even more compliments, although Hikaru noticed that even more boys were staring at her. If Rose was going to be a star someday, he was going to have to make an effort to get used to it. Or maybe break a few noses along the way…

"Really, Rose, you should've won," Lilly told her, walking right beside her back to the limo.

Hikaru added, "That girl only won because she was the daughter of a judge."

Rose blushed, shaking her head. "Nah, she won fair and square."

"Actually, he's right." The group turned to find one of the judges, the youngest male in a purple dress shirt and dark brown hair walking towards Rose, shaking his head scornfully. He told her, "You know, we really thought you should've won." His voice dripped with sarcasm, "But the head judge's daughter was just _so_ precious…"

Rose blushed, flustered, staring at her feet. "Thank you," she managed to mumble, shifting her weight.

The judge continued, smiling, "You know, if you're looking for a good program and classes, my doors are always open. I think you've got some real potential, and you should take advantage of that."

Rose stuttered another thank you as the man handed her a card, waving her goodbye and telling her he hoped to see her soon.

As soon as the man was out of earshot, Lilly started hugging her sister and cheering, "Way to go Rose!" Rose was simply frozen, still looking at the business card that the man had given her.

Hikaru noticed that she wasn't saying a word again, and asked her worriedly, "Uh, Rose, you okay?"

She finally looked up, blinking. The group waited, until a huge grin/smirk appeared on her face, as she looked over to Lilly, asking, "Did you get the churros as planned?"

Lilly, seeing where she was going with this, had an identical Cheshire grin on her face as she lifted up the bag. "Yup."

"Planned?" the group repeated.

"Oh but of course," Rose cooed, then, asked in a fake shocked voice, "Oh, do you mean to tell me Lilly didn't tell you?"

Lilly's grin never faded, as she explained, "It must've slipped my mind. You see, Rose and I found out about this bakery long ago, and that they had churros. When we found out the competition would be held so close to it, we decided to place a bet." Lilly turned to her sister, the club staring dumb-founded as she told her, "And it seems that you've won, Rose. They hadn't the slightest clue what churros are."

Rose sighed. "I honestly thought you would win. I never thought they would be so naïve."

"Ah, you can't blame them. After all, they're Japanese, and have never even been to Mexico."

Kaoru raised an eyebrow, finally understanding. "So _that's_ why you said you didn't need my help."

Rose smiled as the group headed to their limo, giggling, "I should've bought a lottery ticket tonight; I won twice in one day!"

* * *

**Disclaimer: I dont' own the song, I Enjoy Being a Girl, or Ouran High School Host- *sniff sniff* I SMELL CHURROS!!**

**XD Yeah, I luv churros, so they just _had_ to make a guest appearance.**

**Anyways, I rewrote this chapter, like, twenty times, but I'm still not 100% pleased. But I do like this version the best, and I'm to lazy to fix it, so meh...**

**All who review shall receive a virtual churro! XD  
**


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

A Contest of Sorts

"But Kaoru, I wanted to spend some alone time with you…"

"Oh, Hikaru…"

"KAWAII~!"

Rose covered her ears with her hands, an annoyed look on her face. "Can't they at least mix it up a little?" she asked her twin, who was sitting at the next table, talking to a few girls about painting, "I mean, if my boyfriend is going to pretend to be gay for his brother, can they at least be original?"

Lilly shrugged, explaining, "I guess since they've been doing it for so long, they ran out of good ideas."

Of course, Hikaru and Kaoru had both picked up on this conversation, and seeing as how their customers were now unconscious from fainting, they sauntered over to the girls, Hikaru cooing into Rose's ear, "Oh, Rose, don't tell me you're _jealous_."

"Jealous that my boyfriend acts like he's gay for his twin? No, not really."

Hikaru smirked, hamming it up as he gasped, "How could you ever call my love for Kaoru fake? I love him more than anyone could understand!"

Kaoru saw where he was going with this, and began to swoon, falling into Hikaru's arms while whispering, "Oh, Hikaru, protect me from this cruel world!"

Even Lilly raised an eyebrow. Then her eyes lit up, as if she had just stumbled across an ingenious idea. Rose could tell that she had, and realized exactly what Lilly's plan was.

Lilly turned over to her sister, fake tears coming to her eyes. "Is this what this world has come to, dear twin?" she asked, the sadness evident in her voice. She began to sob lightly and delicately, whispering, "How cruel it is that they break my heart so!"

Rose immediately comforted her, hugging her close to her chest and soothing, "Never fear, Lilly. I'm here for you…"

"Oh, Rose…" (1)

Hikaru and Kaoru had long forgotten their little act and were now watching, slightly astounded and jealous as both male and female customers began to have fantasies and even a nosebleed here and there.

"And scene!" Rose took a bow, Lilly laughing as she wiped away the crocodile tears.

Hikaru watched, sneering, "Eh, not bad… But not _good_ either. Only we can pull that off, and we still get more customers than you."

"Oh yeah?" Rose walked up extremely close to Hikaru, snapping in his face, "It just so happens that we're nearly as popular as Tamaki."

Haruhi watched with slight interest, sensing the oncoming challenge. She turned to Kyoya, who was already near the group. "Actually, Rose is right. Rose and Lilly, with the 'Which One is Rose Game', individual personalities, and the fact that they attract both male and female customers all adds up to make them just 7% less popular than Tamaki. And actually, since Haruhi has been announced as a girl, she is now just 17% less popular than Tamaki."

Tamaki's attention was caught. "Wha-" Tamaki scurried over to Kyoya, peeking over his shoulder at his notes on his clipboard. "How can this be? Is it really true that my daughters are so close to surpassing me?"

Hunny was now interested in the topic, holding Usachan to his chest, Mori nearby. He chirped, "We should hold a contest!"

Rose and Hikaru's eyes twinkled, both of them barking over to Kyoya, "That's a great idea!"

Haruhi groaned. She knew she wasn't going to like this one bit.

Lilly intervened, stepping into the middle of the group. She was aware that the few customers who still hadn't left were watching so she lowered her voice. "Wait a minute; what kind of contest? And what kind of prize? Because unlike you boys, I wouldn't enjoy pictures of Haruhi."

Kyoya pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, so they caught a glare. He told them slyly, "How about we see who can receive the most customers, starting next week? The winner will be in control of our next ball."

"Meh, sounds decent." Rose shrugged her shoulders. An evil glint caught in her eye as she announced, "Competition starts Monday. No alliances with any other members, besides the twins for our 'acts'. May the best host or hostess win!"

Hikaru smirked, "Oh, believe me, Kaoru and I will."

"…You're lucky you're cute…"

And with that, the club dispersed to head home for the weekend, a few already making plans for the competition.

* * *

Haruhi watched the other hosts put extra effort into their hosting hours as she cleaned up. Kyoya happened to be standing by, writing on his clipboard. "Kyoya, aren't you participating?"

"I honestly feel that I know that I won't win, and won't benefit from the competition itself, so I've decided to keep out of it. Besides, Hikaru and Rose's fierce competing spirit is not something I want to be in the middle of."

Haruhi had to admit he had a point. She decided to venture, "So who do you think will win, Kyoya?"

"Well," he adjusted his glasses, looking at each host as he told the girl, "Tamaki, the Gengara Twins, and you attract the most customers. However, Tamaki is still the old favorite, and you obviously aren't putting much effort into this competition like me, and it would seem that neither are Rose and Lilly." Haruhi looked over to see that he was right. Only one round of the Which One is Rose Game and nothing else.

"I see, so you think Tamaki will win."

"I wouldn't count out Rose and Lilly just yet. They might have something up their sleeves."

And indeed, they did.

Right as the customers began to leave, Lilly stopped them, reaching into her school bag and pulling out a smaller, plastic shopping bag. She smiled as she reached into the bag and pulled out a portrait of one of their regulars, passing it to the boy as she explained, "I thought since I have so much free time, what with Rose in her triple threat program and all, that I would paint portraits of all our customers."

The girls cooed over how nicely they were done, the boys nodding and blushing slightly. Rose and Lilly watched smugly as customers flocked to Kyoya, all of them asking to change their appointments and requesting Rose or Lilly.

"Damn," Hikaru grumbled, watching. "I guess they won."

And indeed, they did. After only four, short days, Rose and Lilly had racked up more customers than Tamaki had ever had. This truly threw him into a depression. As Kyoya announced the two as the winners, both taking a dramatic bow, Tamaki sat in his emo corner, mumbling, "I thought I was the favorite…" He pouted, Haruhi trying to drag him out of his depression.

Kyoya adjusted his glasses, informing the girls, "As the winners, you both get to pick our next ball at the end of March. What's your decision?"

Rose and Lilly looked at each other, grinning, and turned back to Kyoya, replying at the same time, "A rave." (2)

Tamaki looked over to them, suddenly perking up and yipping excitedly, "What's a rave? Is it a commoner's dance party?"

"Better," Rose assured him, smirking.

"A rave, huh?" Hikaru came up behind her, sharing her smirk. "What's that like? It doesn't sound like something I would do."

Rose looked up at him, raising an eyebrow. "No, Hikaru, it _is_ something you would do."

Lilly raised an identical eyebrow, looking at each host. "Do any of you actually know what a rave is?" All of them shook their heads, slightly baffled.

Hunny chirped, "Will there be cake?"

"Sure," Rose told him, and then returned to the others, yelling, "You guys don't know what you're missing! Party planning shall commence immediately!"

The others gathered around a table, Kaoru and Lilly lingering towards the door, watching the other hosts and their siblings becoming energetic and excited with the upcoming party. "C'mon, let's take a walk," Kaoru gently took Lilly's wrist, leading her down the endless corridors and outside to a secluded courtyard, Lilly smiling and clutching something in her hand.

As they came upon a stone path leading into a maze of rose bushes, they walked alongside each other quietly, admiring the flowers. "So, how long have you been doing this twincest act with Hikaru?" Lilly asked casually.

"This is our third year." Neither one looked at each other. Suddenly, things had grown a little awkward.

Lilly studied Kaoru's peaceful face, and continued to stare ahead, watching as a stone gazebo came up. "Why don't we sit?" she asked, Kaoru nodding. She slid into the stone structure, the seat hard and cold. Kaoru sidled up beside her, looking around at all the roses.

"It's really beautiful," Lilly murmured in awe.

Kaoru looked at her, smiling. "If I said 'Not as beautiful as you', would I be too corny?"

"Yes, but in a good way," Lilly slightly blushed, laughing.

A comfortable silence developed, as Lilly let her head rest on Kaoru's shoulder. "You know, my cousin is coming this summer so my dad can train her to take over his business."

"Really? What's she like?"

"Her name's Reese. She's a year older than us, stubborn, smart, sarcastic, and we learned a lot of our tricks from her."

"…She sounds like a ball of sunshine," Kaoru commented sarcastically.

Lilly laughed, telling him, "Well, I haven't seen her in a few years, actually, so she's probably changed."

"For better or worse?"

"Most likely she's gotten more stubborn, sarcastic, smart, and tricky. But she's fun when you get to know her."

"Can't wait." (3)

They continued to look out at the path, enjoying each other's company. "I, uh, made this for you," Lilly told him slightly sheepishly, pressing a small canvas into his hands. "Because I had a lot of time."

Kaoru looked at the canvas, and found in beautiful, sprawling calligraphy, it read: "Some people call it fate, and some people call it destiny. I just call it you and me." All around, different artistic hearts were drawn and painted, adding a touch of color.

Kaoru smiled sincerely, looking at Lilly fondly. "It's beautiful." And with that, Kaoru tilted her head upwards so her lips met his, and they both sat in the stone gazebo, kissing, and feeling as happy as they could ever be.

* * *

**Disclaimer: Bisco Hatori owns OHSHC... there, I said it...**

**Awww, how adorable! Just a little KaoruxLilly fluff, since they haven't done much romantic stuff yet.**

**Overall, this chapter is basically a filler... And is the second one I've posted for this story in a row that I'm not completely satisfied with. I just can't make these chapters work! D': I'm sorry that I've failed you guys, but I promise that the next one, which is the rave, will be tons better! And now onto the end notes!**

**(1) ...It's not even funny how badly I fail at writing twincest scenes... TT_TT**

**(2) I am perfectly aware of what a rave is. I've never actually been to one... but it sounds pretty flippin' awesome! :D**

**(3) Just reminding you guys that a new oc will be introduced later, named Reese. When, however, is what you won't know. :D  
**


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

A Raving Good Time

To say that Kyoya Ootori was not comfortable in the overly bright clothing with paint-like splatters on his face and glow bracelets was an understatement. The electronic music was beginning to blare through the speakers, the light show made him feel a little dizzy. It was all… overwhelming. Perhaps the contest wasn't a good idea after all. Still, he wasn't going to let his weakness show. He just wasn't sure if any students would even come.

That was it! Kyoya turned to briskly walk out of the party room, his headache worsening. He took a seat at the quieter café/eating area they had set up, with white furniture with paint splatters, the blasting music faintly heard in the background. Kyoya rubbed his temples, thinking back to his backup plan. If no one showed up, he could instantly call the ball a failure and just call the whole thing off. Both sets of twins would pester him, but he was the Shadow King for crying out loud, and he would get his way!

* * *

Today was not Kyoya's day. Much to Rose and Lilly's pleasure, many students showed up, a few even wearing appropriate clothing, while the others were supplied with glow bracelets and necklaces. The Hitachiin and Gengara Twins had designed the hosts' outfits themselves. Every host was given a white suit, save the ladies, who were given white halter-tops and miniskirts, which were splattered with paint in different neon shades of color.

"The party's a hit!" Kaoru yelled to Lilly over the deafening speakers.

"I know! Aren't you glad Rose and I won?"

The hosts danced around, except for Mori, who silently watched Hunny, Kyoya, who simply greeted guests, and Haruhi, who was serving food and drinks in the café.

"Where's Rose? It's almost time for Operation: Clueless!" Kaoru yelled over the music.

Lilly rolled her eyes, yelling back, "Probably making out with Hikaru somewhere private. Let's go get them!"

Both weaved their way through the partying crowd, the lights causing some difficulty as to trying to find an exit. However, they soon found the door, and made their way out to the suddenly silent hallway. It was almost eerie how quickly the nose died. Letting the door slam, Kaoru and Lilly looked down both ways of the hallway before finding a crevice in the wall that was supposed to be used to hold a vase or painting, but had been forgotten.

Lilly and Kaoru exchanged a mischievous look, silently agreeing. Both crept down the hallway, remaining silent, as they came closer to where their twins were, in fact, kissing. Kaoru held up his hand, counting off with his fingers: 1…2…3.

On 3, Kaoru and Lilly jumped in front of the two lovers, Lilly yelling, "Okay, break it up you two!"

Kaoru rolled his eyes, laughing on the inside at his brother and Rose's shocked and embarrassed looks at being caught, and covered his and Lilly's eyes, muttering, "Oh, get a room you two!"

"I-is it time for Operation: Clueless already?" Rose looked flustered and was blushing, trying to recover.

Lilly nodded, adding, "And the platforms we installed are working great as ever."

As soon as they reentered the room, the music was still blasting, and Lilly ran off to tell Kyoya to get ready for the announcement on the small, raised stage set up in a corner of the room. Rose had run off to find Mori and Hunny, while Hikaru got Tamaki and Kaoru got Haruhi.

"What's this about?" Tamaki asked Hikaru impatiently, watching as the room began to quiet down until the only real noise was the murmur spreading through the guests. "I didn't know we were having a contest!"

Hikaru rolled his eyes. "That's why it's a secret contest developed by Kaoru, Rose, Lilly, and I, tono."

Kaoru was already helping the Gengara sisters assemble the others onto the "X" marks on the stage. Once Tamaki was pulled into position (and threatened by Rose that if he didn't shut up she would break his arm), Lilly grabbed the microphone, her voice booming, "How's everyone enjoying the rave?"

The crowd cheered in approval, and Lilly waited until they quieted again before she passed Rose the microphone. "Excellent," Rose began, her eyes gazing over the crowd, "Well, we have a little surprise for you guys."

She then passed the mike to Hikaru, the crowd getting excited. He told them with a flourish, "All this time, we've been holding a secret contest."

Now the crowd was on the brink of bursting out in ecstatic murmurs, so Kaoru quickly added, "You see, we've been watching all of you to find who we thought were in love the most."

The students went off, chattering and yelling, all of them surprised and excited to see who had been chosen. The mike was handed back to Rose, as she explained, "Now, our couple of honor shall be designated when Lilly hits this button." She gestured to the remote Lilly had slipped out of her pocket and waved in the air, all eyes glued to it. "On three!" Rose counted with the other hosts, save Kyoya and Mori, and the students, "1! 2! 3!"

Right on 3, Lilly pushed the big red button down, and suddenly, a slight tremor shook the stage. The other hosts, who had been informed of the plan, looked directly to Tamaki or Haruhi, who were on opposite ends of the stage, as both rose on platforms until they were five feet above the others. Confetti burst out of hidden cannons, and the music blasted back on, the crowd shocked and happy, cheering and yelling their heads off.

"Congratulations to our couple-to-be!" all four twins yelled into the microphone, Hikaru adding, "On with the rave!" The music returned, the light show also back on,

Haruhi and Tamaki simply stared at each other. "O-oh!" Tamaki tried to recover, frozen in the same position on the platform, "I see! You mean like a father-daughter type of love!"

The hosts looked at him, all thinking that Tamaki had the I.Q. of a coconut. Haruhi was silent, in deep thought as she looked between all the hosts, her eyes finally resting on Tamaki.

After about a minute, Haruhi slid off the platform, nonchalantly telling the twins, "I don't appreciate the prank at all."

Now the hosts were starting to think that Haruhi, the _scholarship_ student herself, was proving to be just as dumb, if not dumber, than Tamaki. "Okay here's the thing," Rose came up beside the brunette, annoyed by the two's density. "You two are both completely clueless when it comes to the fact that you just plain love each other, so we decided to give you a little push."

"What are you talking about? I'm not clueless! I know perfectly well that Haruhi is like a daughter to me!"

Now Lilly was exasperated, and went up straight to Tamaki, telling him slowly, "I realize you have the brains of a squirrel, so I'll spell it out for you. Haruhi love you, and you love Haruhi."

"Forget it, tono's too much of a baka to realize it," Kaoru told her, already leading her away.

Hikaru agreed, leading Rose off the stage with the other hosts, "Might as well let them figure it out on their own."

Kyoya simply appeared behind the two girls, Haruhi and Tamaki just now about to leave the stage, mumbling, "Perhaps when you said 'push', you meant it literally."

Both girls got the same idea at the same time. The quietly hopped off the somewhat short ladder leading off the stage to either side, waiting in the cover of darkness. Just as Haruhi had finally had enough of Tamaki pestering her, and was turning to face him, Rose yelled out, "Now!" pushing Haruhi closer to Tamaki, Lilly doing the same to the blond.

Quite clumsily, but still somehow cutely, the two's lips met, interlocking in an "accidental" kiss. The twins watched smugly as both pulled away, but not quickly.

Haruhi and Tamaki stared once more at each other, both of them fingering their lips. Truthfully, not only had sparks flew, but it was like fireworks.

Rose and Lilly walked around the awkward couple, brushing themselves off.

"Our good deed of the day is done now, Rose."

"It seems it is, Lilly…"

"…Oh god I think we're actually turning into model students…"

"Hurry! Let's go bug the crap out of Kyoya before we complete the hideous transformation!"

"Right behind you!"

* * *

**Disclaimer: Bisco Hatori owns OHSHC, and I own my ocs.**

**Not much to say. Except... HOLY MACARONI ONLY TWO OR THREE CHAPTERS LEFT! What is this madness?**

**I say two or three because I'm thinking of splitting the last chapter into two parts, y'know? Or if it's short enough, it'll just be one.**

**And to answer your most likely asked question: YES, I will be doing a sequel, and quite possibly make this a full-blown series. We'll just wait and see...  
**


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Overnight Get Together

"Haruhi~!" The said girl looked up to find her only two close female friends standing in front of her desk, huge, goofy grins in their faces, a glint in their eyes, and practically singing her name.

"What?" She was still a little peeved at them for embarrassing her like that, and forcing her into a kiss from Tamaki, so she made sure that she didn't give off the slightest hint of happiness. It was so awkward to be around the blond now, but she had to admit, she felt something… different.

Rose hammed it up, telling her as she sunk down into her seat next to Haruhi, "Well, it's just that with finals coming up, and school almost being over, and now with you and Tamaki soon getting together-"

"We're not getting together," Haruhi deadpanned, taking out her notes and trying her best to ignore them.

Lilly continued, "The point is, we realized that in just a little over a week, school's going to be over."

Both of them chorused right into Haruhi's ears, "And we still haven't had a sleepover!"

Haruhi stared at them, dumbfounded. That was it? She had never really been to a sleepover, because no girls ever invited her over, and by now it seemed almost childish to her. Not to mention she would have to put up with them for a whole night. "No."

Both of them whimpered, pulling out their sad puppy eyes. "Pwease?"

"No." They knew her weakness well, though, and she was faltering. Haruhi quickly enveloped herself in her textbook, avoiding looking at them.

Rose pouted. "You're no fun."

Hikaru and Kaoru walked in, side by side, taking their seats. "What's up?" the older twin asked when he saw both of their pouts.

"Haruhi's being a stubborn mule and doesn't want to come over," Rose mumbled, Lilly sharing her pout.

Kaoru laughed. "Haruhi would never go to one of those. We already tried to invite her over before."

"Yeah, but you're guys," Lilly told him matter-of-factly, "And you've known her longer. We just want to get a little closer, is all."

Hikaru looked at Haruhi, smirking, "They have a point, you know…"

"Yeah, you should visit their house," Kaoru added.

All four of them shared a quick glance, and then, with Haruhi in the middle of them all, started chanting, "Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please! Please!"

"Fine!" Haruhi snapped a little louder than she thought, the entire class turning around to see the commotion. Rose and Lilly had a look of pure joy splattered across their faces, while Hikaru and Kaoru simply smirked. Haruhi groaned, "I'm going to regret this."

"Oh, come now, Haruhi!" Rose told her, explaining, "Don't think of it like a sleepover. Think of it as more of an… overnight get together, to celebrate the end of finals and the end of the school year!"

Lilly added, their teacher already getting ready to pass out their tests, "We'll pick you up at six on Friday, and take you home at ten in the morning."

All Haruhi could hear was her own thoughts: I pray to god they don't make my night a living hell.

* * *

"So, here's the basement!" Rose presented as she opened the door, her and her twin giving Haruhi the grand tour of their huge house/petite mansion.

Lilly nodded, telling Haruhi, "You can set up your stuff over by where we set up the sleeping bags."

Haruhi simply nodded, throwing her bag onto the gray and blue sleeping bag in between the red and black and cream and white ones. She looked back to the beaming twins, asking, "What did you have in mind?"

"Snacks!" both girls yelled at the same time.

Haruhi raised a brow. "Okay…"

Without warning, the twin girls grabbed her wrists and yanked her back up the stairs, grinning and ignoring Haruhi's demands to let her go. Upon reaching the large kitchen, both twins dragged Haruhi over to the stovetop, beaming.

"I'm gonna go get the popcorn and soda! You two get started on the chocolate covered strawberries!" Rose yelled over her shoulder as she made her way behind a wall, which probably hid a huge pantry.

Lilly turned back to the stove top, where a pot filled with chocolate sat inside a larger pot filled with water. "Kay, better start melting the chocolate," Lilly mumbled, turning the stovetop on, Haruhi watching.

After Lilly quickly took out a box of strawberries from their fridge, her and Haruhi set to work cleaning and setting them on a cutting board, waiting for their time to be dipped. Both became silent as the chocolate slowly melted, Haruhi looking around. "So," Lilly broke the silence, "is there anything you want to do tonight?"

Haruhi shrugged, bluntly stating, "Go home."

Lilly sweat-dropped. "So glad to know you're having a good time…"

Rose popped in, carrying three bags of microwave popcorn, a six-pack of Ramune, and a huge bag of chips. She made her way over to the microwave, setting down all her stuff on the kitchen island, placing a bag of popcorn into the microwave, and hitting the "popcorn" button. As she opened up a cabinet, grabbing a huge bowl, she asked, "How're the chocolate strawberries coming along?"

"The chocolate just melted," Haruhi commented, setting to work dipping the strawberries and laying them down on wax paper. Rose nodded, waiting for the popcorn to finish popping.

"So…" Lilly tried to break the silence, "What are you going to wear to Mori and Hunny's graduation ceremony, Haruhi?"

The brunette deadpanned, "It's still a week away."

Rose rolled her eyes, mumbling sarcastically, "Translated as: I don't have anything picked out."

"C'mon Haruhi!" Lilly pestered, dipping a strawberry, "This is two of our best friends' graduation! It has to be something special."

"I don't see the big deal. They're just moving on to college and taking another step forward into their lives."

Rose finished pouring the first bag of popcorn into the bowl, and set up the second of three. "Haruhi, we aren't going to see them the entire summer, and for the first two weeks of school. And even when they do come for the Host Club, it's only going to be Tuesdays and Fridays. Don't you want your last impression on them to be a good one?"

Haruhi sighed, seeing as how there was no arguing with them. She watched as slowly, all the strawberries were dipped in chocolate and hardening, Rose's final bag of popcorn put into the microwave. Lilly told her, "You can borrow something from us. Point is, you absolutely _have_ to wear a dress, heels, and makeup."

"Yeah," Rose came up beside Haruhi, whispering smugly, "Don't you want to look good for Tamaki?"

"For the last time I don't like him!"

The twins exchanged a glance behind her back, only further infuriating Haruhi by mumbling sarcastically, "Sure you don't."

Once the snacks were taken care of, all three of them made their way back to the basement, this time, Haruhi getting a good look. It was spacious, with lots of windows to view the backyard. Filled with beanbag chairs, air-hockey, a huge entertainment system, it was great for parties.

Rose and Lilly set the snacks in front of the sleeping bags, ushering Haruhi to sit as well. She took a strawberry, enjoying the simple deliciousness of it. "And everyone knows that after snacks," Lilly started, an evil look in her eyes.

"Comes talking," finished Rose, an equally evil look in her hazel eyes.

Haruhi wasn't sure how talking would cause them to look so mischievous, so she ventured after swallowing her popcorn, "About what?"

"Oh, nothing much," Lilly waved the thought away with her hand.

Rose added, almost seeming bored now, "Just fashion, school, friends…"

And then, without warning, the twin girls stared straight at Haruhi, telling her smugly and at the same time, "_Boys_…"

The commoner groaned. She should've known they would torture her with the fact that she had kissed Tamaki. But she still hadn't admitted that she liked him, and she was going to be stubborn. Thanks to them, things were suddenly awkward, complicated around him. And being as dense about love as she was, she still didn't know exactly why…

"But," Lilly saved her, "There is _one_ thing we should do first."

Haruhi waited for them to continue, but realized that she was their cue. She let out a sigh, knowing this couldn't be good. "What?"

"MAKEOVER!"

She was right. She wasn't going to like this one bit. However, no matter how hard she struggled, how loudly she protested, the twins were bent on doing something with her hair and face. After awhile, Haruhi just gave in, letting do whatever they wanted.

"Done!" they both chimed, turning her to face the mirror in the huge bathroom they had been working in.

Haruhi stared at herself. She had to admit, they at least did a good job. They had somehow managed to put a braid on the right side of her still short hair, which she was growing out, and she could barely tell if they had put on any makeup.

Rose smirked, "And you know, Tamaki will love it…"

"Please stop talking about that. I already told you, I don't-"

"You say that, Haruhi," Lilly cut her off, "But we can tell when you're lying."

Before Haruhi could bluntly protest/lie again, Rose told her, "But no time for that! We need to change into our pajamas, and then we're playing Truth-or-Dare!"

If Haruhi didn't like the makeover, she definitely wouldn't like this. The trio made their way back to the basement, changed, flopped onto their sleeping bags, and realized that they were running dangerously low on popcorn. "Ne, Lilly, we need more popcorn."

The said girl rolled her eyes. "Really? I didn't notice, Rose."

"I'll pass on the sarcasm, just get us more popcorn."

"If you want popcorn so badly then get it yourself."

The two stared daggers at each other for a minute, and Haruhi sweat-dropped. They were having a fight… over popcorn. After a long minute, the two of them burst out laughing, Haruhi watching them, amused. They were so unlike the other girls she had met before.

"But seriously, get some more popcorn, Rose."

The girl grumbled, but did as asked, grabbing the bowl and making her way upstairs, yelling, "Don't start without me!"

Lilly and Haruhi sat in silence for a moment, before Lilly told the commoner, "I figured out why you wanted to go to Ouran."

Haruhi looked at the girl, slightly surprised that she had even bothered to figure out. The other hosts knew she wanted to be a lawyer, but they never really bugged her about why Ouran and not some other school like Lobelia.

Lilly continued, "It's because you want to go to Ouran University, right?"

Haruhi's eyes slightly widened in shock. "How did you figure out?"

"I got interested," she shrugged, looking ahead and not at Haruhi, "I mean, all of our futures are already decided. You know, like I already know what I'm going to do for a living. But Haruhi, you have this amazing opportunity to mold your own future. And you decided to be a lawyer. And when you told us that your mother was a lawyer one day, well, I only got more interested. So then I wondered why you chose Ouran. That's when I searched for special law education privileges that Ouran granted, and I found out about Ouran University. Apparently, only students who go to Ouran High School are permitted into the university, which is known for it's top-notch law program. I heard it was so small and exclusive, they only have two dorms; one for boys and the other for girls."

Haruhi watched her, smiling slightly. When Rose returned, though, her face formed a grimace, as the twins decided it was her turn first.

"Hey, how about we play Truth instead?" Lilly asked.

Rose grinned. "I like the sounds of that."

"Truth?"

Both twins turned to the girl, explaining, "We take turns asking each other questions, and you _have_ to answer them truthfully. If you don't want to answer a question, you pass, and you lose. Last one in the game wins."

Haruhi shrugged. "Okay, ask me something."

"Do you love Tamaki?" She so should've seen that coming.

Haruhi deadpanned, "Pass."

"Oh, I almost forgot to mention," Rose added, a sly grin on her face, "Haruhi, if you're the first one out, then we get to pick your date to Mori and Hunny's graduation ceremony."

They would of course pick Tamaki. Haruhi mulled it over in her head, trying to figure out if she should pass the question, or keep playing. "Okay, fine. I don't know, okay? It's just so awkward around Tamaki, and…"

Both twin girls exchanged a knowing look, then explained, "Your turn to ask one of us a question, Haruhi."

"What am I supposed to ask?"

"Something very personal and uncomfortable."

Haruhi turned to Rose, asking, "What's the most embarrassing thing that's happened to you on stage?"

"Ah yes," Rose leaned back, thinking. "I was five. It was my first competition in front of a crowd of more than fifty people. I looked out into the audience, and suddenly, my pulse started racing, I was sweating, my mind was completely blank, and then…" Rose trailed off, letting the suspense build up. She concluded anticlimactically, "I barfed on a judge. They felt so bad for me that they gave me a ribbon for 'Best Attempt'."

Rose turned to Haruhi, explaining, "That was a fairly easy question. But don't worry, you're still a rookie at it, so allow me to demonstrate on my twin." Lilly sighed, Rose turning to her. "Okay, Lilly. How often do you kiss Kaoru?"

It was obvious that she was uncomfortable with this question by the way she fidgeted under Rose's gaze. Frankly, Haruhi didn't want to know something like that, but she didn't have a choice. Lilly took a deep breath, answering, "Not, like, every day or anything. Just, whenever one of us feels romantic, or something."

Rose pinched her twin's cheek, cooing, "Aw, Lilly's blushing!"

"Stop it!" Lilly smacked her hand away, turning to Haruhi. She asked, "Which Host Club members did you have a crush on at first?"

Haruhi gulped. Honestly, she hadn't realized that at one point, she did have a bit of a crush on anyone. She bit her lip, muttering, "Mori…" She added quickly, "But not anymore!"

Rose sidled up beside her, purring, "Looks like Haruhi is into older men."

"Quit it," she groaned, regretting ever agreeing to this game. She asked Rose, "Did you ever fantasize about Hikaru before you two dated and you 'hated' each other? And if you did, what was it about?"

Suddenly, Rose grew flustered, blushing and twisting a strand of her hair, avoiding eye contact and squirming. She stuttered, "N-not a lot, just… s-sometimes… Y-you know, typical stuff. Like him and I t-talking, and-"

"Him shirtless?" Lilly slipped in.

"Ye- Wait, no!"

Lilly rolled on the floor, laughing her heart out, and gave Haruhi a pat on the back, congratulating, "Haruhi, you have just defeated the Queen of Truth."

Rose snapped, "Well, now it's your turn! Where do you keep the blackmail pictures from the 'Tomato Incident'?"

Lilly hissed, "Dang it." She sighed. "Locked in my drawer on underneath the desk in our room. But I have the key, so don't you dare try to take them back!" Lilly turned to Haruhi, asking, "What did you really think when Hikaru dyed his hair?"

She bluntly replied, ignoring the fact that Hikaru's girlfriend was right next to her, "I thought he lost a bet, or something. But it looked okay, I guess." Now Haruhi asked Rose, "What's the 'Tomato Incident' you two were just talking about?"

Rose bit her lip, sighing. Lilly snickered, wordlessly boasting about how Rose's question had backfired. "When we were living in Italy, where I grew up, in the sixth grade, Lilly and I thought it would be fun to help make spaghetti sauce, but we just ended up playing with the tomatoes. So I picked one out, and said that we should name it something, just for the sake of it. We wanted to name it something that meant light, because it was a lot paler than the other tomatoes."

She took a deep breath here, a faint blush growing on her cheeks, "And then we found the name 'Hikaru'. We were crazy back then, so we started taking a bunch of pictures with me acting like I was in love with the tomato… named Hikaru. And then we wrote in tomato sauce 'Rose and Hikaru Forever', and there were a couple of pictures of me kissing it, so on and so forth.

"Well, Lilly got it all on camera, snapping pictures here and there, and when we looked back on them a year later, they were really embarrassing. So of course she kept them, blackmailing me with them every so often.

"And then we moved here, and we met you guys. That's when we met the twins, and I remembered exactly what I named the tomato. And this was back when I 'hated' Hikaru, so if he had seen those pictures I would just about die. They're still embarrassing, though."

Haruhi raised an eyebrow. "You named a tomato Hikaru?"

"Blame it on sugar and ," Rose muttered, sulking.

After a few more rounds of trivial knowledge, they soon realized that it was around one in the morning, and Haruhi was getting extremely sleepy, barely awake, the twins yawning every so often.

"We better get to sleep," Haruhi mumbled, crawling into her sleeping bag, thankful to finally close her eyes.

Rose turned the lights off, Lilly about to fall asleep.

"Hey, Haruhi?" Both of them whispered, the brunette's eyes barely opening.

"Hm?"

Rose told her, "Thanks."

"For what?"

"For everything," Lilly replied, smiling.

Haruhi smiled with the two, muttering as she closed her eyes, "Good night."

"Sleep tight," Lilly mumbled, about to drift off.

Rose added with a small yawn, tiredness kicking in, "And don't let the bed bugs bite."

* * *

Haruhi's eyes fluttered open, revealing that the room was lit up with the sun's light thanks to the windows. She found that the two sleeping bags next to her were already empty, and decided to try checking upstairs first for the twins.

"Morning!" they greeted, Rose getting out a carton of orange juice and a carton of milk from the fridge, Lilly making pancakes.

Haruhi nodded. "You're up earlier than me."

"Yeah, you were still sound asleep," Rose told her, getting glasses, "So we didn't want to wake you up."

Haruhi took a seat at the kitchen table set off to the side, asking, "What time is it?"

"Nine. That leaves us with an hour to eat breakfast and get ready before we take you back home," Lilly explained, flipping a pancake.

Rose set a plate in front of Haruhi, asking, "Milk, orange juice, or water?"

"Orange juice is fine."

After pouring her a glass, Lilly came over and set a plate of pancakes down, along with maple syrup. The three ate in silence, all of them still a little too tired to try and start up a conversation.

As they were packing up downstairs, dressed, their teeth brushed, Lilly said, "You know, I haven't really realized how close I had gotten to Hunny and Mori since now. I'm really going to miss seeing them everyday."

"Yeah," Rose agreed, "It's going to feel so weird with two less members. I'm going to miss having cake with Hunny, and Mori's one word answers."

Haruhi told them, "Tamaki said he was going to look for at least one more new host member in the freshman class."

"Oh yeah, he did," Lilly nodded, finishing up. "I wonder what type he's going to look for…"

Once they were done with cleaning up, they all piled into the "conventional" car, and made their way to Haruhi's apartment complex, both twins yelling after her, "See you at school!"

Haruhi waved back, then made her way up the stairs to her apartment, opening the door to find her dad home. "Hi honey! How was the sleepover? Did you do anything fun?" he asked, slipping on his shoes.

"It was pretty fun," she answered, already making her way to her room, asking, "Where are you going?"

"Oh, I have to cover someone's shift at the bar today, but don't worry! I'll be back in time for dinner! Bye bye, Haruhi!"

She watched him leave, and then opened the door to her room, setting her stuff down on the floor next to her bed. She found her phone buzzing in the side pocket of the duffel bag, and flipped it open to find that she had received a new text from Tamaki, telling her that they were going to arrange a special party for Hunny and Mori's graduation at the Host Club.

That's when it truly hit her. Mori and Hunny were really leaving. This was it. She would only see them on Mondays and Fridays at the Host Club, and might still have to miss the club a few times.

Haruhi saddened, and scrolled through the rest of the text, her heart stopping. Because at the very end of the message, Tamaki had asked her to be his date to the graduation dance that everyone was invited to.

She stared at it for a minute, and before she even knew what her fingers were doing, she had hit the reply button, and was typing in y-e-s. Only after she hit send did she realize what she had just done.

Haruhi flopped onto her bed, sighing. Things were changing. But this time, she was going to embrace it.

* * *

**Disclaimer: I don't own copyright claims to OHSHC, or pancakes.**

**Finally! I got this chapter done! =3= Let me tell you, I'm proud of it.**

**HOLY GUACAMOLE! ONLY TWO CHAPTERS LEFT!**

**This story is coming to a close, but no need to fret! I already have ideas for the sequel! Heck, I know what all the other stories are going to be about. But maybe I should focus on finishing this one first... ^.^U**

**Aw, looks like Hunny and Mori will be graduating high school, and leaving Ouran! -sniffle- :( But at least there's a party! And it will have the grand mother load of cakes for Hunny! (=3=)b**

**As always, enjoy and review!  
**


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Don't Leave Us

"SURPRISE!" The hosts and clients yelled in perfect unison as the graduating senior hosts opened the doors.

Hunny's eyes lit up, and a beaming smile was soon on his face, as he looked at all his friends. Mori let a small smile tug at his lips, also pleasantly surprised.

"We have decided to throw a grand party in your honor, to celebrate your moving on in life!" Tamaki declared with a flourish, stepping towards the two.

Rose winked, her sister and the Hitachiin Twins behind her, holding something huge. "And in case that doesn't convince you to stay, Hunny…"

All four sang in harmony as they revealed a grand six tier cake decorated with pink bunnies and white frosted flowers, "We have ca~ake!"

"Yay! Thank you so much everybody!" Hunny cheered, Mori nodding beside him.

They followed the two sets of twins as they set the cake carefully on a buffet table, handing Mori a knife to slice it with, granting Hunny the first and biggest piece of his probably hundreds of slices to come.

The rest of the time at the Host Club was spent mingling, cake, snacks, and drinks all being enjoyed by the clients and hosts. Tamaki played the piano a few times, allowing music to take over the excited jabber.

The room itself was decorated with commoner streamers and balloons, a few grand decorations placed throughout the clubroom. All the while, Hunny and Mori had smiles on their faces and laughed with their friends, just happy to be with them.

Soon, though, the party was over, and as the last of the customers trickled out, all of them waving to the hosts and yelling goodbyes and how excited they were to attend the special graduation dance, Tamaki was ready to once again be the center of attention.

"All right then! Now that the informal party is over," Tamaki made his way to the center of the room, knowing every eye was on him, "It's time to start planning for the graduation dance after the ceremony!"

Kyoya stepped up beside him, mumbling, "Right. We should start off by knowing if everyone has dates."

Kaoru and Lilly blurted out, "The four of us are all set!"

"No duh," Hikaru and Rose added under their breaths.

Not one to miss a single word, Kyoya came up beside the two, scaring them to pieces, asking in a menacingly calm voice, "I'm sorry, what was that?"

"No-nothing…"

Kyoya straightened up, explaining, "I have asked one of my classmates, whose father is a partner of my father's, and she has agreed." He jotted something down on his clipboard, asking Tamaki, "And who are you taking, Tamaki?"

"Oh, uh…" A sudden blush as red as tomatoes grew on his face as he stuttered. Haruhi also slightly blushed, looking away from the group. "I-I'm going w-with my precious daughter, H-Haruhi…"

"Hmm?" Hikaru and Kaoru inspected Tamaki on either side, the said boy flustered, as they asked, "Who asked whom, tono?"

"W-well, I, uh, I asked Haruhi, an-and she agreed…"

"DAMNIT!" Everyone blinked in surprise, his or her head turning towards the source of the frustrated cry.

Rose was the one who had yelled, and Lilly was standing beside her, looking quite smug. Rose fumbled in her skirt pocket, mumbling, "Why couldn't you make the first move, Haruhi? Great, that's half my allowance out the door…"

Lilly smirked as Rose slapped down a few bills into the outstretched palm of her hand. She teased as she counted the money, then slid it into her pocket, "Aw, don't feel bad, Rose. I'm the one who understands everybody after all."

Haruhi twitched. "You bet on my relationship with Tamaki?"

"Your point?"

"…Never mind…"

"Eh, I don't have a date," Hunny piped up, blinking.

"But Mori does?" Hikaru asked.

Hunny nodded, explaining, "No one asked me." He suddenly grew forlorn, hugging his Usachan tightly to his chest. Mori put a hand on his shoulder, in an attempt to comfort him.

"Got it taken care of," Rose told him.

At all of their confused looks, Lilly explained, "I saw a girl from the Black Magic Club talking to Hunny before at the Host Club, and I wondered who she was. She actually came up to me the yesterday, asking if Hunny had a date to the graduation dance, since she chickened out of asking him herself. So you now officially have a date with Reiko Kanazuki."

Rose added, "Your welcome."

Hunny smiled at the two, cheering, "Thank you!"

"All right then! We have a lot of planning to do in little time, everyone, so I suggest we get right to it!" Tamaki proclaimed, adding, "After all, the graduation ceremony is just a few days away!"

At this, Hunny teared up. He began bawling, Mori trying to comfort him. "No! We can't leave! No!"

"Aw, Hunny! Mori!" Rose and Lilly sniffled, running towards the two and enveloping them in a hug.

Tamaki joined them, along with the others, Kyoya standing aside. "We're going to miss you," Haruhi whispered, Hunny still sniffling.

"I don't wanna leave," he cried. "I can't believe I'm leaving you guys behind!"

Hikaru unexpectedly spoke up, hugging a little tighter, "We're never going to split up."

"He's right!" Tamaki cheered, "We will all always be in contact, and we will be friends forever! I am the daddy, and what I say goes!"

Lilly turned away from the group, her eyes spotting something, or rather, someone. Without warning, she slid out of the group hug, the others watching her. She was walking up to Kyoya, and Rose followed her, the Hitachiin Twins following suit.

"This is a _group_ hug, Kyoya," Lilly informed the boy in glasses, as he watched, slightly stunned. "And that includes you."

Perhaps they had a death wish, or maybe they were just brave, but the Gengara Twins grabbed the Shadow King's wrists, dragging him over to where the seniors were standing with Haruhi and Tamaki, Hikaru and Kaoru pushing the boy in glasses from behind.

Reluctantly, he joined in the hug, mumbling, "This is uncomfortable. I really don't enjoy things like this."

Rose barked, "Oh just shut up and hug, Ootori! And don't pretend that you won't miss Hunny and Mori as much as the rest of us!"

Blinking at her bold remark, he simply hugged along with the others, all of them smiling and tearing up at the thought of Hunny and Mori leaving. But inside each of their hearts, they knew that no matter how far apart they were in distance, they would always be right next to each other, laughing and remaining friends.

* * *

**Disclaimer: Bisco Hatori owns OHSHC, not me.**

**AW! I didn't know I could write something so sad and sweet and sappy. :'D**

**The next chapter is the end, people. Like, the end. No more. Finished, done, over, no more, etc.**

**...Okay, actually there's going to be three more books in the series, but the graduation dance and ceremony will be the end of this story.**

**I'll tell you this: There's going to be a quick snippet of their summer in the next book, but not a lot. Also, I go by the American school calendar, so...**

**Read and enjoy, everybody, and may you anticipate the ending and the sequel.  
**


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Hello to Change

"Okay, Haruhi…" Rose and Lilly stepped back, admiring their work. The brunette had finally been convinced to put on a halter dress that flared a little out at the knees made of a deep emerald, shiny fabric, black heels, a black jewel bracelet, some light makeup, and a small braid was in her hair.

Rose let out a low whistle, Lilly smiling as she said, "Wait until Tamaki gets a load of you."

Haruhi turned to examine herself in the twins' full-length mirror, twirling a bit. She had to admit, she actually liked the dress. The girls knew her well, and had made the dress especially for her, keeping it comfortable and simple. Haruhi turned towards the two, looking over their outfits as well.

Both of their dresses had fitted, sparkly, sleeveless bodices, the skirts made of layers and layers of thin and sparkly fabric. However, Rose's dress was red, and she had on black pumps, a black ribbon as a belt, black earrings, and a rose was in her hair. Lilly's dress was white, and she had golden pumps (not real gold, obviously), a golden ribbon, golden earrings, and a lily in her hair.

Haruhi smiled. "Thank you for helping me get ready and making a dress. And you won't believe how amazed my dad is that I'm letting you do this."

"Well," Rose told her, checking her cell phone, "Tamaki should be here to pick you up early so we can all double-check on the dance plans in a few minutes, so let's head downstairs."

Sure enough, just as their heels hit the main floor, a limo pulled up into the drive, Tamaki making his way to the door, looking dashing in a cream tux complete with a light red tie. Rose and Lilly grinned as they opened up the doors, Haruhi in between them, suddenly growing nervous and shy, looking towards the ground. "Ta-da!" the twin girls presented the commoner, Tamaki's jaw practically hitting the floor.

He gulped, trying to regain composure and offer her the rose he brought, stuttering, "W-wow, Haruhi! Y-you look…"

"Amazing?" Rose offered.

Lilly added, "Fantastic?"

"Like the most beautiful girl in the world?" they asked together, giving Haruhi a light nudge towards Tamaki.

Haruhi blushed as Tamaki just nodded, dumbfounded. "Thank you," she whispered. "But if we don't hurry, we won't be able to check on the arrangements for the dance."

"You're right! Let us be off!" Tamaki yelled, his normal dramatic self now restored.

Haruhi deadpanned, "You don't need to be so passionate."

"Just make sure to have her back at her apartment by nine after the fireworks!" Lilly yelled after the two, who were about to slide into the limo.

Rose added, "Or Ranka's going to have you head!"

As the limo drove off, heading towards Ouran, no doubt, the twin girls faced each other, both of them heading towards their garage to their own limo to go pick up the twins.

* * *

"Does it fit okay, Takashi?" Hunny asked the silent boy as they slid on their graduation gowns, waiting with the other graduating students before getting in line for the ceremony.

Mori smiled down at the boy, answering, "You look very mature, Mitskuni."

The teen beamed, holding up his bunny as he yipped, "I'm so glad they let me take Usachan up there with me! And look at his little red bow! It's so cute!"

Mori nodded, watching as his classmates mingled amongst themselves, all of them excited for the dance, a few talking about college. Hunny let his gaze travel towards where Mori was looking, and commented, "It's a good thing we're both going to Ouran University, right Takashi? What are you excited for?"

"Learning new things."

Hunny nodded, explaining, "I'm not sure if anyone will take me seriously because I'm so short, but I know that I'm going to have a fun time at college with you!"

Mori smiled down at him. Even if he had remained short to everyone else, since they had met the Host Club, Hunny had certainly grown as a person.

* * *

"He won't come out," Kaoru sighed, leading Rose and Lilly to the living room. "I tried everything, but he just mopes and whines and won't unlock the door. He's acting rather childish, really."

Lilly sat down, nodding, but Rose remained standing. "Let me try."

Kaoru led her up the stairs and down a few hallways, telling her, "I hope you can do something about it. I've managed to at least talk him into getting ready, but he needs someone else to coax him to come out."

Rose simply followed behind Kaoru, not exactly sure what to do yet. She stopped beside him as he knocked on a door that was apparently his and Hikaru's room, calling out, "Hikaru? Rose is here."

There was a silence, but finally Hikaru opened the door, glaring straight at Kaoru, telling him, "I'm not coming out! I don't care who-" But once he had caught a glimpse of Rose in her dress, he shut up completely, his eyes growing wide, having much the same reaction as Kaoru had had when he first opened the door and saw Lilly.

Rose smiled, making her way inside the room, telling Kaoru, "I'll only be a minute. We'll meet you downstairs."

Kaoru nodded, heading back to where Lilly was waiting as Hikaru closed the door behind her. "You look amazing," he blurted out.

She smiled, looking at his black coat and dress pants, a blue tie around his neck. Kaoru's was orange. She teased, "And you don't look like half the rebel my dad thinks you are."

Hikaru looked slightly taken aback, repeating, "Your dad thinks I'm a rebel?"

"Yup." She took a seat on his bed, patting the spot next to her for him to sit down, explaining, "He hasn't met you yet, but he's heard from your parents that you're quote on quote 'the immature one', and that you've dyed your hair black. Therefore, you're considered a rebel in his eyes, and with my bad past of bad boys, he officially hates you as of now."

"Great," Hikaru mumbled sarcastically, remaining standing but moving closer to Rose. "I guess I'll have to meet him soon."

"You will. But that's not exactly why you locked yourself in you bedroom, is it?"

Hikaru looked away from her, mumbling, "No…"

"Okay, so why are we just hanging around in your bedroom when we should be heading over to school to do a last minute check on the dance?"

"I don't want to see Hunny and Mori leave," he admitted, still mumbling and not looking directly at Rose.

Seeing as how he wasn't going to sit, Rose stood up, making her way towards him. When she was standing right in front of him, she asked with a raised brow, "And you think that if you don't go to the ceremony that they won't graduate? That they'll stop the whole ceremony just for you?"

"I don't know, I just…" Hikaru huffed, finally looking up at Rose. He sighed, mumbling weakly, "I just don't want them to leave."

"None of us do, Hikaru," Rose told him, a sad smile on her face. "But don't you at least want to say bye to them before they leave?"

"Don't say that," Hikaru snapped, feeling a stab of guilt as Rose flinched. He averted his eyes from hers, mumbling, "Don't say 'leave'."

Rose stepped closer to him, giving him an unexpected hug. As Hikaru simply stood there, stunned, she whispered in his ear, "They aren't really leaving, Hikaru. We're going to see them on Mondays and Fridays, and every chance we get. It'll be like they never left."

"Yes it will," he pouted.

Rose let out a sigh, pulling back from her hug to see his face. She let out a small giggle at his immature and childish pout, and suddenly, it clicked. Slowly, she pressed her lips against his in a kiss, Hikaru once again surprised. But just as he was about to start kissing back, she pulled away. She tapped his nose for emphasis, explaining, "If you don't get your whiny butt to the graduation ceremony to see Hunny and Mori and grow up and realize that we're still all going to be friends, then I'm never going to kiss you again, Hikaru Hitachiin."

He raised a brow, suddenly playful. "Is that a threat?"

"No," she told him coyly, beginning to make her way towards the door, stepping outside. "More like a compromise."

Hikaru sighed, watching her leave. Finally, he gave in, following her and muttering, "Fine, whatever. I get it now."

"Good." She gave him a peck on the cheek, soothing, "Because I'm sure Hunny and Mori would want to see you."

He simply smiled a bit, leading her back to where Kaoru and Lilly were waiting. Maybe Rose had a point. Maybe it would really be like they never left.

* * *

Kyouya fixed his tie one last time, now thoroughly convinced that it was tied correctly. He checked his watch, seeing that he still had plenty of time to check with the others on the dance before the ceremony began.

He sighed, picking up his phone and sliding it into his pocket, thinking about it all. Hunny and Mori were really leaving. This was it. Kyouya would never let the others know, but truthfully, he would miss them. However, he didn't have time to worry about that. In order to keep the club in check, he would have to recruit at least one more host, perhaps two. New faces, someone fresh, that's what would help lighten their spirits.

Kyouya was not an emotional person, and therefore left out in his mind just how he exactly he felt about it, instead making his way to his limo. As the limousine pulled out of the drive, his mind wandered to the dance afterwards. Sure, he had a date; it was even one that his father had approved. But what was the point? When he really thought about it, the only person who would actually benefit from this would be his father.

However, he reasoned that if his father's business improved thanks to him, that he would surely be impressed and reward Kyouya in turn. He might even be convinced enough to make Kyouya the heir to the Ootori business. Still, the young man sighed. He kept feeling like something was missing. Like he wasn't truly benefiting from this…

* * *

The crowd applauded as the chairman announced name after name of graduating student, all of them walking across the stage and receiving a diploma. "Mitskuni Haninozuka."

Hunny practically skipped across the stage, the Host Club in the front row and clapping louder than anyone, smiling up at the glowing grad. "Takashi Morinozuka." Even though the boy was silent, the hosts and hostesses continued with the thunderous applause, their smiles never faltering, especially when they saw that Mori had a small smile on his face as well.

The rest of the students went by in a blur, until finally Chairman Suoh was concluding, "And now, to celebrate your moving forward in life, all graduating students and family and friends are invited to enjoy the dance. May every single student who has a diploma in their hand grow and learn more and more as they take the next big step in their lives. Congratulations!"

With that, all the grads threw their blue caps into the air, everyone cheering and clapping. Hunny beamed as he threw up Usachan in the air, the pink bunny standing out in the temporary sea of royal blue, bringing a smile to everyone's face.

"And now," the chairman added quickly, everyone beginning to stand up, a few stretching, "Please enjoy the dance. Parents, there is a reception indoors if you would rather enjoy some exquisite appetizers and mingle."

As the crowd of students made their way to the outdoor dance floor, the grads taking off their gowns, Tamaki was already standing in the middle of the set courtyard, announcing, "And now, dance to your hearts content, everyone! Decorations and food courtesy of the Host Club!"

The students cheered, a small orchestra beginning to play a classical song. Some boys and girls decided to get some food or a drink first, while others had decided to dance, and still more simply stood on the side, chatting away.

"Meh, we liked the rave better," Rose and Lilly commented. They added, grinning at the sight of Hunny and Mori approaching the club, "But this'll do."

Hunny beamed at everyone, wearing a white dress shirt and deep red vest. "Thank you so much everybody for coming! Takashi and I wouldn't have it any other way!"

"Definitely."

Kyouya commented, "Why don't we all enjoy the party as well?"

"Yes! Let's dance, Haruhi!" Tamaki had already grabbed her wrist, ignoring her complaints and protests, until they were already waltzing with the other students.

Kaoru offered his hand in an overly dramatic way to Lilly, who laughed and took his, both of them also making their way to the dance floor.

Reiko and Mori's date made their way over to the two, Mori leading his classmate to the floor, Reiko blushing and quiet as Hunny skipped ahead of her.

Hikaru turned to Rose, asking, "Do you want to dance?"

"No."

"What?"

Rose smiled, shaking her head and laughing, "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Let's go." With that, she took Hikaru's wrist and led him towards the others, all the while Hikaru muttering something about how he wanted her to stop teasing him, the two of them bickering in a somehow loving way.

Kyouya stared after them, suddenly feeling alone. Truthfully, he was in no rush to find his own date. He knew that he would dance with her, keep her happy, and she would tell her father how happy she was, and that would strengthen the relationship between the two companies. Still, all the while he would feel a sort of emptiness, like it didn't matter in the end.

He watched as the others danced, observing just how happy they looked.

Kyouya smiled at the sight of Haruhi in a dress. She really was beautiful, and Tamaki was a lucky guy to have someone like her. He watched as she complained, Tamaki just smiling and bearing it until she finally shut up, both of them looking content just to be dancing together.

He moved on to watching Hunny and Reiko, Hunny spinning the girl around, making her blush and even let out a small laugh. Opposites did attract, apparently, as the quiet, awkward girl from the Black Magic Club seemed to open up to the smiling and lovable high school senior.

Then there was Mori and his date. Grant it, they may not have been in love, but they were both slightly smiling, the girl not talking too much, Mori nodding or grunting here and there. Even if a love didn't bloom between the two, Kyouya could tell that they would at least be friends.

And then there were the four twins, with two different types of love.

Kaoru and Lilly had a gentle, caring, and understanding relationship. Words didn't always need to be exchanged; they knew how the other felt. There was nothing forced, it was all natural, the connection simply there and for the world to see. Both of them smiled as they dance, neither one saying much throughout the whole song, just enjoying each other's presence.

Hikaru and Rose were a different story. They clashed sometimes, butted heads, but when sparks flew, it was because they were still somehow in love. They were drawn to each other's passion and hot-headedness. The two would bicker and tease each other, and grant it argue a little more often than necessary, but in a way that it was fairly evident they only did it because they knew that in the end, it was all just meaningless words, both of them knowing full well that they loved each other. However, Hikaru was jealous and protective, and Kyouya knew that at some point or another, Rose would have to deal with it. Still, the love was there as they chatted and twirled around.

Kyouya sighed. All he had were merits, motives, but nothing really driving him to find his date. The only thing that brought them together was a business. He sighed, watching as the said girl made her way towards him, smiling and trying to flirt with him (quite badly, too in his opinion) and asking him if he wanted to dance. Kyouya faked another smile of millions, replying, "Absolutely." But in the end, he was starting to wonder if there was something more out there.

* * *

"So, you're birthday is coming up," Rose chimed as Hikaru twirled her around. "June 9th, no?"

"Yeah, it is pretty close." Rose gave him a strange look, prompting him to ask, "What?"

She shrugged as they continued to dance, simply replying, "I thought you of all people would be excited and have something special planned."

"Well, I don't."

"Great! Don't make any plans at all until then."

Hikaru gave her a blank look. "You're throwing me a surprise party, aren't you?" He added, teasing, "You need to get better at being subtle."

Rose gave him a confused look as she told him, "Who said anything about a surprise party? Lilly and I were planning to do a 'dinner with your closest friends' thing."

Not sure whether or not to trust that this was true thanks to her acting skills, which Hikaru really hated at that particular moment, he mumbled, "I thought you of all people would have something special up their sleeve."

"Well, I don't." Hikaru knew in his heart that was a lie. Before he could push her for more details, Rose told him, "But first, you're going to have to meet my dad. He still hates you."

Hikaru groaned. "Gee, thanks for the confidence boost," he muttered.

"All I'm saying is that you need to prove him wrong." There was a small silence as the two danced, until Rose added, "And at the airport would be a good way."

"You're leaving?" Hikaru yelled so loudly and abruptly that a few heads turned. He dropped his hands and let them fall to his side; his eyes were wide, with a hurt look in them from the secret.

Rose face-palmed, muttering, "No, genius. To pick up my cousin when she lands in Japan." She sighed as Hikaru got an 'oh' face, the others around her turning back to their dancing, including Hikaru and Rose. "My parents will be there too, and we were thinking of inviting the whole Host Club. Reese's plane should be landing next Friday, at 10. We were planning to be there at 9:20, which would give you some time to strike up an intriguing conversation with my father."

"In other words: convince him I'm not a gang member."

"Yeah, pretty much."

Hikaru sighed as he spun her again, smiling, "Count me in."

* * *

Reiko whispered, "S-so when are you going to be at the Host Club?"

"Mondays and Fridays!" Hunny beamed up at her, suddenly stopping. "Oh, and I want you to have this!" He shuffled his had around in his pocket, until he pulled out a piece of paper with neat writing on it with a "Ta-da!" thrown in for good measure. He handed it to the quiet girl, explaining, "It has my phone number and email on it, so I want you to call or email me everyday, okay?"

She blushed, mumbling, "Okay." As soon as she had put the paper in her dress pocket, Hunny began spinning around again, and she followed, a small smile on her face.

* * *

"How are you enjoying the dance, Haruhi?"

"My feet are dead after all this dancing. Can't we just take a break?"

"But it's only been two songs! Come now, my daughter! Enjoy this special bonding time with your father."

Haruhi frowned, slightly scowling and grumbling, Tamaki's brow furrowing in confusion. "What is it, my darling daughter?"

"So after all this, I'm still just a daughter to you?"

"Well, daughters have a very special place in their father's, and-"

Haruhi snapped, her slightly aching feet getting the better of her, "What are you trying to say?"

Tamaki smiled, finally leading her off the dance floor and to an empty seat. He gave her an unexpected kiss on the forehead, Haruhi freezing up from the shock, explaining with a warm tone, "I'm saying that you hold a very special place in my heart, Haruhi." He jumped up, chirping, "I'm going to go get us some refreshments! Wait here, my little Haruhi!"

Haruhi grumbled as Tamaki bounced away, proving just how well he could kill any mood. She sighed, watching as the blond idiot made his way to the buffet, picking up a plate and grabbing just about one of everything for her to eat, no doubt.

Tamaki was an idiotic, sincere, energetic, kind, caring, and annoying moron.

A small smile grew on Haruhi's face.

But that was why she loved him.

* * *

"So Kyouya, how is the Host Club going to get along without Mori and Hunny?"

"Oh, those two will still come twice a week. However, we were planning to add another member to the club, preferably someone from the freshman class."

"Well, that sounds exciting!"

"Quite. Are you enjoying the dance?"

"Very much, Kyouya, thank you. But can we stop dancing for a bit? I'm actually getting a little thirsty."

"As you wish, mademoiselle." With that, he led her off the floor, and told her as she daintily took a seat, "Wait here as I go get us some refreshments." She batted her eyes, giggling, and Kyouya rolled his eyes inwardly, annoyed by her attempts at romance.

He reviewed his part of the dance so far in his head. First, he had observed the others for a minute. Then, his flirtatious date had asked him to dance. They had, and she attempted to make some conversation, Kyouya being insincere, polite, and dry, as usual. He let out a small sigh as he watched the others, all of them having a good time.

Still, he had others things to focus on. For example, keeping his date happy. Kyouya let out one last sigh as he grabbed a cup, not quite looking forward to the rest of the night.

* * *

"So, you're still planning to go to Ouran University, right Mori?"

"Yes."

She smiled up at him, a small smile appearing on his lips as well, as she added before letting a comfortable silence settle once more, "Then I hope we'll be in a few classes together."

Mori nodded, smiling and grunting, "We'll have to meet up sometime."

* * *

"Hey Rose, I just got a voicemail from Reese," Lilly whispered, leading her twin away from the group of fangirls surrounding the Hitachiin Twins. Before Lilly had interrupted her, Rose had been just about ready to knock out half of them.

Rose asked, still steaming and looking over to where her boyfriend was surrounded by hormone-driven teen girls, "What was it about?"

"Listen."

With a push of a button on her cell phone, their cousin's voice began to play, informing, "Hello there, my dear identical cousins! I'm in… well, actually, I can't say where I am right now or then I would have to kill you, haha! But anyways, my flight is still on schedule, although it's in several days. By the way, when you pick me up from the airport, I want the entire Host Club there. I don't give a crap if you have to drag them all out of their homes, because I think we all know that nothing is more important than me. Oh, and don't tell the Host Club what I look like. Make them search for me, and I'll watch. It will be much more entertaining than just greeting me. Now I have to go, this bodyguard Dad hired is practically breathing down my neck, and it's driving me crazy! Yes, I'm talking about you, Hugh! God, give a girl her personal space! Well, see you two soon! Ciao!"

The two grinned as the message ended, Rose chuckling, "I forgot just how eccentric she was."

"She said she had a bodyguard. Is her dad really in that much danger these days? I mean, she's moving halfway around the world, she couldn't be safer!"

"Guess he's worried."

Lilly tucked her phone away, and turned to face away from the party and towards the garden, her twin following suit. Lilly told her, "So, Mori and Hunny are going to college."

"And we're going to have a new member," Rose added.

"Not to mention Reese will be here to shake things up."

"Plus, Tamaki and Haruhi are now together."

Lilly looked over to her sister, asking, "Everything's going to change, huh?"

Rose smiled, taking her hand and letting their fingers intertwine. "For the better," she replied, giving her twin's hand a reassuring squeeze.

Lilly squeezed back, smiling and repeating, "For the better."

"There you two are! Come now, we simply must count down to the fireworks!" Tamaki yelled, the entire club running over to them, the twins' heads whipping towards them.

The girls smiled at each other, before running towards the gang, the group making their way to the front of the crowd of students.

The Host Club stood side by side, their dates with them, looking up to the sky expectantly.

"3!"

What new surprises awaited them?

"2!"

Would their love and friendship bloom and blossom?

"1!"

There was only one way to find out…

"0!"

Dive in headfirst.

The crowd gasped and laughed and clapped as the fireworks went off, the Hosts all smiling at each other. Yes, things were certainly going to change. But was it going to be for better or worse? Time would only tell.

* * *

**Disclaimer: *throws confetti* Hooray for Bisco Hatori! Congrats, two of your characters have just graduated in my world!**

**I'M NOT DEAD!**

***ahem* Now that that's over with... on to the insanely long end note! (If you wish, you may skip this and get straight to reviewing...or whatever it is you do when you finish reading...)**

**Yes, there will be a sequel. Yes, there will be some/a new character(s). No, I will not tell you anything more.**

**Instead, I will be evil and give you more questions for you to puzzle about before I start on the next book. :D**

**Who is Reese? What does her dad do that puts him and her in danger? Is she just eccentric and doesn't want to tell them where she is? ...What are you looking at me for? I told you I wasn't giving anything away!**

**And what about the new member? Will it be a freshman? Will it be an already existing character from the show? Find out when I feel like telling you!**

**And now, on to the thank yous.**

**Thank you to all my reading reviewers, for giving me such great support!**

**Thank you to my readers who don't review. Now get off your lazy butt and review already! Haha, just kidding! ...No, seriously, review already...**

**And a big thank you to anyone who has reviewed but hasn't read a single word yet! ...Actually, I don't think that's ever happened, so let's move on.**

**This whole experience has been amazing. I never would have dreamed that my very first story would become so popular! (...Shut up, it's popular to me! Who asked you, anyway?) Not to mention that my writing style would improve so much, along with my characters and plots!**

**Seriously, you should've read the very first draft of the first few chapters! ...Actually, I'm glad you didn't, because your eyes would bleed from the pure horribleness of it all. **

**And now, until next time! Remember, look out for the sequel! It shall be called: The New Blooms As always, read, review, and enjoy!  
**


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